Manchester United legend Gary Neville has picked his best starting XI for the Red Devils ahead of the Premier League derby against Manchester City on Sunday.
United have had an average start to the league campaign. They suffered a surprise 2-0 loss to Hull City in the curtain-raiser before a 5-2 win over Ipswich Town.
The club were on course for a 2-1 victory at Everton last weekend, but they were denied after a world-class strike from Ainsley Maitland-Niles in the 96th minute.
United made amends with a 4-0 win over Sabah in the Champions League league phase in midweek, but they face a stern challenge against Man City this weekend.
Ahead of the derby at Old Trafford, Neville hosted the Big Game Preview on The Overlap with United and City fans and revealed his best starting XI to face the Cityzens.
He said: “Lammens, Dalot, Shaw, Maguire, Martinez, Tielemans and Mainoo, and then the front four of Rashford, Mbeumo, Cunha and Fernandes. To me, that is Manchester United’s best eleven.”
Michael Carrick could go with the same starting XI vs Man City
Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw are United’s best back four at the moment with Senne Lammens in goal. Matthijs de Ligt is still recovering from a back issue.
Shaw was absent for the recent win over Sabah after some fitness concerns. Manager Michael Carrick did not want to risk the Englishman and remained doubtful about his involvement on Sunday.
If Shaw is deemed unfit, Carrick will likely choose Noussair Mazraoui as a makeshift left-back over playing Dorgu, who has been defensively vulnerable when asked to operate in a back four.
Dorgu has been most successful as a left winger under Carrick. He has hardly played as a left-back. Thursday was a rare occasion, and he grabbed the opportunity by registering an assist.
Still, there are questions over his defensive attributes. Against Antoine Semenyo, Mazraoui could be entrusted to feature as the left-back if Shaw is unavailable to make the starting line-up.
The attack and midfield could be the same as Neville predicted. Benjamin Sesko scored a late goal coming off the bench against Everton before netting against Sabah in his first start of the season.
Despite this, the 23-year-old may not start upfront in the Manchester derby. The Slovenian registered just five passes against Sabah on Thursday and won only four out of 11 duels contested on the night.
Carrick may want a striker who can be more involved and link up play against Man City. In that case, Matheus Cunha appears the likely option to lead the line with Marcus Rashford on the left wing.
Rashford got a full break against Sabah on the bench after his recent muscular concern. The Englishman has three goals in his last four league starts against Man City. He should relish the challenge on Sunday.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com & Sofascore.com