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Confirmed: Man Utd Lineup vs West Ham

Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic will be handed their Manchester United Premier League debuts from the start this afternoon.

The Manchester United lineup for our first game of the 2017-18 Premier League season is as follows:

David de Gea; Antonio Valencia, Eric Bailly, Phil Jones, Daley Blind; Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba, Juan Mata; Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford

Substitutes: Sergio Romero, Matteo Darmian, Chris Smalling, Marouane Fellaini, Ander Herrera, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial

Romelu Lukaku will be flanked by Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Rashford in the front three.  Juan Mata will start in central midfield, alongside Paul Pogba and the debuting Nemanja Matic as Ander Herrera and Jesse Lingard drop to the bench from midweek.

There is no place in the squad for Victor Lindelof as Phil Jones and Eric Bailly are the centre-back partnership with Chris Smalling on the bench.  Daley Blind replaces Matteo Darmian at left-back.

West Ham have named the following starting XI:

Joe Hart; Pablo Zabaleta, Winston Reid, Angelo Ogbonna, Arthur Masuaku; Mark Noble, Pedro Obiang, Edimilson Fernandes; Andre Ayew, Javier Hernandez, Marko Arnautovic

Javier Hernandez can expect a warm welcome back to Old Trafford as he was a fan favourite here.  Joe Hart and Pablo Zabaleta can expect to be taunted by the fans all afternoon.

I really fancy our chances against this defence.  Pablo Zabaleta looked very slow and out of sorts at Manchester City last season – Marcus Rashford’s pace and tenacity should be a real problem for the ageing Argentine.

On the opposite flank I was not a fan of what I saw of Arthur Masuaku last season but perhaps he can prove me wrong this afternoon.  Likewise Italian centre-back Angelo Ogbonna looks to have an error in him.