How Manchester United could line up against Chelsea

Manchester United begin their 2019-20 campaign with a huge game against Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side, who suffered a poor end to last season, have enjoyed the perfect pre-season, winning all six of their games.

While United supporters will be concerned at the club's failure to land a midfielder or replace Romelu Lukaku, who joined Inter Milan on deadline day, the club has notably improved its defence by signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire over the summer.

Old Trafford will expect to witness a high-intensity attacking performance with Solskjaer's side pressing from the front against a Chelsea team which has not won a league game at the Theatre of Dreams since 2010.

Ahead of the showpiece event on Sunday, Sports Mole looks at how United could line up for the clash.

Out: Eric Bailly (knee), Alexis Sanchez (fitness), Timothy Fosu-Mensah (knee) Doubtful: Joel Pereira (back)

>Click here for United's full injury and suspension list ahead of this match.

United will feel far more secure at the back following the additions of Maguire and Wan-Bissaka, who are both expected to go straight into the defence to make their debuts against Frank Lampard's side. Solskjaer will expect the former, along with the composed Victor Lindelof, to set the tone by directing play from the back.

The midfield also largely picks itself following a pre-season which saw Solskjaer employ a midfield pivot as part of a high-pressing 4-2-3-1, rendering the choice of Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay - as opposed to the onerous Nemanja Matic, who is out of form - to start the game from midfield an obvious one.

A key battle in the game will, as always, be how Pogba copes with the omnipresent influence of fellow France teammate N'Golo Kante in midfield, with the 25-year-old's runs from deep so crucial to opening teams up in the final third.

Daniel James looks set to make his United debut as well after impressing on the right-hand side during pre-season, but supporters will hope to see him replaced at some point by Mason Greenwood - a youngster that every United fan is excited about.

The rest of the attacking quartet is fairly obvious due to Sanchez's lack of match fitness and Lukaku's departure for Italy on Thursday, placing strong emphasis on Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial to spearhead the attacking threat against the West London side.

> Click here to see how Chelsea could line up for this fixture