Luke Shaw was given an extra recovery day before Manchester United's first Champions League match in two seasons. Sports Illustrated, Sports Mole and The Hard Tackle each predict a different stand-in.
Manchester United play Sabah FK at Old Trafford tonight, Thursday 10 September, kick-off 20:00 BST, 15:00 ET. It is their first Champions League match after two seasons away and Sabah's first league-phase match of any kind, per Goal.com and Yardbarker.
Luke Shaw was given an extra recovery day on Wednesday, per BBC Sport and Sports Mole. Michael Carrick said it was "not an ongoing thing or a plan", per Sports Mole and The Peoples Person. Three published predicted XIs fill the gap three different ways. Sports Illustrated has Patrick Dorgu, Sports Mole has Noussair Mazraoui and The Hard Tackle has Harry Amass. Only Senne Lammens, Bryan Mbeumo, Bruno Fernandes and Benjamin Sesko appear in all three, and no defender does. Sesko is still waiting for his first start of the season, per Sports Illustrated and football365.
Sabah were founded in 2017 and have been playing in this competition since 7 July, when they entered in the first qualifying round. They beat The New Saints, KuPS and AGF, then Hapoel Be'er Sheva 6-4 on aggregate after extra time, per Goal.com and Yardbarker. Manchester United have never played an Azerbaijani club, per Sports Illustrated and United In Focus.
Carrick called it a "magical competition" at Wednesday's press conference and added, per BBC Sport: "When you're out of it, you realise how special it is and when you're in it, you want to make the most of it."
The turnaround is short. Manchester City come to Old Trafford on Sunday, per Sports Mole and football365.