Ruben Amorim has decided to hand Benjamin Šeško and Manuel Ugarte their first Premier League starts of the season against Manchester City.
Manchester United resume their Premier League campaign this weekend with Ruben Amorim leading his side into a derby clash against Manchester City.
Both teams have endured an unconvincing start to the season. United have picked up a win, a draw, and a defeat from their opening three fixtures, while City also sit on three points from three games.
This showdown presents each club with a chance to regain momentum and, at the same time, pile further pressure on their local rivals during an unpredictable opening phase of the season.
The last encounter at the Etihad ended in dramatic fashion, as United overturned the deficit with late goals from Bruno Fernandes and Amad to seal a memorable 2-1 victory just before the new year.
Both of those players start in this encounter, with Benjamin Šeško also making his full Premier League debut for the Reds against their rivals.
Amorim explains why Šeško starts vs City
Šeško has made three appearances in the Premier League so far this season but all of those have come off the bench. He played 90 minutes against Grimsby Town too.
After starting consecutive games for Slovenia during the international break, Šeško now starts in an important clash with City.
“I think he has a lot of pace, he’s good in the box and he will have space in behind the City defence because they push the team forward all the time,” explained Amorim when asked about starting the 22-year-old.
“They will try to push the team to put their team narrow to protect the spaces between the lines. So we have space behind and we try to use it with Šeško.”
Why Ugarte starts vs City
Another decision from Amorim which surprised fans was the fact that Manuel Ugarte starts the game in front of Casemiro or Kobbie Mainoo.
Ugarte has had an extremely poor start to the season and was an unused substitute in United’s win over Burnley before the international break.
Amorim has explained that it is a tactical decision to bring the midfielder back into the side alongside Fernandes in the centre of the park.
Read More: Ruben Amorim reveals what Manchester United teammates must do for Benjamin Šeško vs Man City
“I think it is a team that changes a lot, the position. We need to have a guy who is more light in the movements, the way he can press is really strong,” Amorim told Sky Sports.
“I don’t know but we want to play Bruno [Fernandes] on one side, but I don’t know which side we need to press higher with a midfielder. Maybe, with Case [Casemiro] or Kobbie [Mainoo]. I think we would struggle a little bit with that and Manu can give us that but, tactical, it was to choose Manu.”
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