Huddersfield Town will welcome an unbeaten Manchester United side to the John Smith’s Stadium on Saturday afternoon for the next instalment of its Premier League campaign. This will be the first time the two sides will have met since March 1972 where The Red Devils secured a 3-0 victory over Town.
Town’s last Premier League game saw them defeated at the hands of Swansea City, as a Tammy Abraham brace condemned The Terriers to a two-goal defeat in Wales.
THE OPPONENT
Jose Mourinho’s side arrive in Yorkshire having only conceded two goals from their opening eight games this season. His side have only trailed for a total of two minutes in total all season, as Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting gave Stoke City the lead in the 43rd minute of their game before Marcus Rashford drew the sides level only two-minutes later.
The Red Devils began the season with three straight wins, the first two of which were consecutive 4-0 victories over West Ham United and Swansea City respectively. In their last outing, Manchester United played out a goalless draw with rivals Liverpool at Anfield.
Manchester United currently sit in second position - two points behind table topping rivals Manchester City – accumulating six wins from a possible eight with a plus-19 goal difference.
Last season, The Red Devils finished in sixth position collecting 69 points, winning the EFL Cup and securing themselves a place in the Champions League knockout stages along the way.
Jose Mourinho took over the reins from Louis Van Gaal at Old Trafford in May 2016, with the Manager currently holding the highest win % in the club’s managerial history, winning 60.53% or 46 of his 76 games in charge of the Club, slightly higher than club legend Sir Alex Ferguson who won 59.67% or 895 of his 1500 games in the hot seat.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Armenian international Henrikh Mkhitaryan has already contributed 2 goals and 6 assists from his 11 games in all competitions this season. The attacking midfielder joined United from Borussia Dortmund in July 2016 and made 24 apperances for the outfit last campaign.
Romelu Lukaku has been lethal in front of goal this season and leads the Premier League scoring charts having scored 7 goals in as many games. The Belgian international joined from Everton in the summer for a fee reported to be in the region of £75million.
Shot-stopper David De Gea has been in fine form for The Red Devils this season and has recently been nominated for the 2017 Ballon d’Or. The Spanish international joined The Red Devils from Atletico Madrid in July 2011 and racked up 35 Premier League apperances last season.
NEW SIGNINGS
Manchester United completed deals for four new players during the summer transfer window, of which included the signing of the £75million-man, Romelu Lukaku.
The Red Devils also completed the signings of Swedish defender Victor Lindelof from Benfica, Nemanja Matić from Chelsea and resigned forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic - whose contract had previously expired at the Club.
The Club bid farewell to the legendary Wayne Rooney who re-joined his boyhood club Everton for an undisclosed fee in the summer. Rooney signed for United in 2004 and went on to make 559 appearances for the club, finding the net 253 times along the way.
Josh Harrop (Preston), Adnan Januzaj (Real Sociedad) and Guillermo Varela (Penarol) also departed The Red Devils on a permanent basis in the summer transfer window.
MANCHESTER UNITED’S LAST STARTING XI vs LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1):
GK: David De Gea
DL: Matteo Darmian
DC: Phil Jones
DC: Chris Smalling
DR: Antonio Valencia
CM: Nemanja Matić
CM: Ander Herrera
LM: Anthony Martial
AM: Henrikh Mkhitaryan
RM: Ashley Young
FW: Romelu Lukaku
TEAM NEWS - TOWN
Danny Williams made a return to action at Swansea last Saturday having been ruled out prior to the international break with a foot injury.
David Wagner will give any further updates on the injuries to Collin Quaner (Calf), Steve Mounié (Heel), Michael Hefele (Achilles) and Kasey Palmer (Hamstring) at his press conference ahead of Saturday’s game.
Jon Gorenc Stanković (ACL) will remain unavailable on Saturday due to his respective injury.
TEAM NEWS – MANCHESTER UNITED
Jose Mourinho is expected to give an update on the availability of injured players Paul Pogba, Eric Bailly, Micheal Carrick and Marouane Fellaini at his press conference ahead of the game.
The Red Devils were in Champions League action against Benfica on Wednesday evening with all four missing out, although reports would suggest defender Eric Bailly and midfielder Paul Pogba aren’t too far away from a return to action.
Longer-term absentees Marcos Rojo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are expected to remain side-lined for Saturday’s encounter.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for this game are sold out, but some tickets may become available on Terrier Exchange!
#HTTV
If you didn’t manage to get a ticket and would like to listen to the game, you can receive full match commentary provided by BBC Radio Leeds via #HTTV+; click here to subscribe now!
FAN INFORMATION
Terrier Brass will be performing between 1.45pm and 2.45pm at the John Smith’s Stadium in front of the Revell Ward Lower Tier.
