Why Manchester United didn't start Amad Diallo in Liverpool FC defeat

Erik ten Hag has made three changes to his Manchester United squad for their Premier League home match against Liverpool at Old Trafford.

Matthijs de Ligt and Joshua Zirkzee have both been handed their first starts for the club, while Alejandro Garnacho starts his first match of the new season, having featured from the bench in the first two matches.

United will be hoping to bounce back from their defeat against Brighton a week ago and will have to do so against an unchanged Liverpool side in Arne Slot's first trip to Old Trafford.

Speaking ahead of the match, Ten Hag explained his line up and why he decided to make three changes. "Harry [Maguire] and Amad also deserve to start,” he said. “But there are players who start and others who finish the game. We will need them."

On the decision to hand De Ligt his first start alongside Lisandro Martinez, he added: "He's fit, especially a fit guy, so he's really excited and he wants to play really ambitious, so yeah, we put him in. He didn't have the ideal pre-season, and football is not always ideal, but he had some good couple of weeks training now with us, three weeks.

"With Licha, we already see there is a good connection. And I think against the fluid front line from Liverpool, it fits very good.”

United XI: Onana; Mazraoui, De Ligt, Martinez, Dalot; Casemiro, Mainoo, Fernandes; Garnacho, Rashford, Zirkzee.

Subs: Bayındır, Heaton, Evans, Maguire, Collyer, Eriksen, Antony, Amad, Wheatley.