Confirmed Lineups: Man Utd vs Reading

Manchester United kick off Saturday’s FA Cup third round action at home to Championship strugglers Reading at 12:30 at Old Trafford.

The visitors are currently down in 23rd place in the second tier whilst Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is looking to make it five wins out of five as our caretaker manager.

Solskjaer confirmed at yesterday’s pre-match press conference that Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez would start this game. Both attackers have only made appearances for the subs bench under the Norwegian.

The two teams for today’s game are confirmed as:

Manchester United

Sergio Romero; Diogo Dalot, Matteo Darmian, Phil Jones, Ashley Young; Scott McTominay, Fred, Andreas Pereira; Juan Mata, Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez

Substitutes: Lee Grant, Victor Lindelof, Marouane Fellaini, James Garner, Tahith Chong, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford

Matteo Darmain will partner Phil Jones at centre-back today as our only other central defender, Victor Lindelof, is giving some sort of a breather by only being named on the bench. Eric Bailly is suspended whilst both Chris Smalling and Marcos Rojo are injured.

Scott McTominay returns from injury to anchor our central midfield three which sees Brazilian duo Fred and Andreas Pereira both start.

Juan Mata is the third man in our attacking trio. The Spaniard also started the 2-0 victory at Newcastle United on Wednesday. Teenagers James Garner and Tahith Chong could both make their Manchester United debuts today as the pair are named among the substitutes by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Diogo Dalot is in at right-back whilst Ashley Young captain’s the side from the left.

Reading

Anssi Jaakkola; Andy Yiadom, Tiago Ilori, Liam Moore, Omar Richards; Liam Kelly, Andy Rinomhota; Garath McCleary, John Swift, Callum Harriott; Danny Loader

Substitutes: Sam Walker, Chris Gunter, John O’Shea, Ryan East, Sone Aluko, Modou Barrow, Yakou Meite

Jose Gomes appears to be going with a 4-2-3-1 formation for the visitors which includes 18-year-old Danny Loader starting up front. The striker will be supported by playmaker John Swift and the tricky Garath McCleary.

Reading are captained by the hopeless Liam Moore in defence who is partnered by former Liverpool defender Tiago Ilori in the middle of a back four. Former-Manchester United defender John O’Shea is among the substitutes for the Royals.