Man Utd v Leeds team news: Fitness update and predicted line-ups

Manchester United face a tough start to the 2021/22 Premier League season when they host last campaign’s surprise package, Leeds United.

But after a summer which saw United players involved in Euro 2020, the Copa America and the Olympics, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is far short of having a full roster of players to choose from.

United began last term slowly with the Norwegian regularly bemoaning the side’s lack of fitness in the early weeks after a truncated pre-season break in 2020.

He and the club’s supporters will be hoping a similar scenario doesn’t face the side this weekend, where an opening-day victory over an old foe would represent a perfect start to the new campaign.

Who’s unavailable?

Dean Henderson looks likely to miss out as he continues to recover from the long-term effects of Covid-19, while Jesse Lingard also tested positive recently.

Raphael Varane is yet to be officially confirmed as a United player, and fellow new recruit Jadon Sancho only began training this week and is not expected to start against Leeds.

His England team-mate Marcus Rashford will definitely miss out after receiving surgery on a long-term shoulder problem recently, while Alex Telles is also out for at least a few weeks with an ankle injury.

Elsewhere, Edinson Cavani, Eric Bailly and Amad have not rejoined training after their summer international commitments and are unlikely to be involved for the first couple of games.

Anthony Martial, Paul Pogba, Fred and Scott McTominay have barely featured in pre-season, but with United short for options they may have to start against Leeds. Meanwhile, Mason Greenwood and Donny van Beek are fit after missing Euro 2020 through respective injuries.

With several absentees, Solskjaer might include some youngsters in the matchday squad, such as James Garner and Anthony Elanga, who both featured prominently in the warm-up friendlies.

Predicted line-up:

De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, Matic, Van de Beek, James, Fernandes, Pogba, Greenwood.

The debate will be in the centre of the park, with Solskjaer’s first-choice pairing of Fred and McTominay playing a combined 67 minutes in pre-season.

Nemanja Matic has played regularly in the warm-up games and could start, although there may be fears about his pace against an agile Leeds outfit.

With Henderson and Varane unavailable, David de Gea and Victor Lindelof should start, along with Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw who played an hour respectively in the last pre-season game.

Leeds team team news

Marcelo Bielsa confirmed on Thursday that Diego Llorente will miss the clash at Old Trafford, but had more positive news on summer signing Junior Firpo, and Jamie Shackleton, both of whom are fit.

Therefore, Leeds have an almost full squad to select from for Saturday’s game.

Predicted line-up:

Meslier, Ayling, Cooper, Struijk, Fipro, Raphina, Dallas, Klich, Phillips, Harrison, Bamford.