On Saturday, Manchester United will play a friendly game against fellow Premier League team Aston Villa to conclude their pre-season trip to Thailand and Australia.
In their three preseason games this summer, the Red Devils have defeated Liverpool, Melbourne Victory, and Crystal Palace. Meanwhile, Villa have won all three of their pre-season games since the end of the previous season, defeating Walsall, Leeds United, and Brisbane Roar.
Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, and Jadon Sancho all scored as Man United defeated Crystal Palace 3-1 on Tuesday in Melbourne, continuing their outstanding preseason streak.
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The 20-time English champions will now play Villa in Perth to close out this portion of their pre-season campaign, before returning to Europe the following weekend for games against Atletico Madrid and Rayo Vallecano.
The 2022-23 Premier League season would then start for Erik ten Hag's team on 7 August at home against Brighton & Hove Albion.
It will be interesting to see how the club does next season after an unimpressive 2021–22 campaign, in which they finished down in sixth place and missed out on qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
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While Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez have been made official as club additions this summer, the two might potentially make their debuts next weekend.
Tyrell Malacia has been the team's lone new acquisition while on tour.
While Cristiano Ronaldo is currently out due to rumours about his future, Man United are still trying to sign Frenkie de Jong from Barcelona. However, Martial, Rashford, and Sancho have all dazzled this off-season, netting seven goals between them in the club's three games so far.
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Scott McTominay's place in the starting line-up is in question as he missed Man United's Wednesday training session to attend a recovery gym session.
It is uncertain whether Raphael Varane and James Garner will play on Saturday after the pair sat out the team's previous match against Palace.
Varane won't risk playing if he isn't entirely healthy, therefore Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof may start again. Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot are also expected to play as the starting fullbacks.
If McTominay is absent, Donny van de Beek might move into the middle, and it is likely that Ten Hag will once again start Rashford, Martial, and Sancho as the front trio against Gerrard's men.
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However, there are musings that Bruno Fernandes could be benched in favour of Hannibal Mejbri to provide the youngster with some more minutes.
This is because he was seen in deep conversation with Ten Hag in an open training session on Thursday just before joining up with the usual starters in the next drill.
The Dutch manager also hinted at Hannibal being involved in a larger role involving more minutes under his belt.
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"Hannibal plays some minutes now," Ten Hag explained. "I think he did quite well in training as well, he makes a good impression."
Topics: Manchester United, Aston Villa, Donny van de Beek, Jadon Sancho, Anthony Martial, Raphael Varane, Harry Maguire, Erik Ten Hag, Premier League, Football
Aadit Mehta