Manchester United would have been hoping to be looking down the barrel of 6 points from 6 heading into Sunday afternoon’s clash at Old Trafford, however the first home game of the season takes on extra importance given the defeat against Hull City last weekend. This time round, another newly promoted team await and United will still go into the game as favourites, but given Ipswich’s win in their opener, Carrick’s side will be under huge pressure to ensure they put in a better showing than last time and get up to speed quickly or risk a very tense and disappointed home support.

In our preview of the game we are going to take a look at the team news coming into the game including our predicted XI for this one, we will have a look at some of the key battles and players to watch and then of course we will make a prediction for how this one could play out.

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Team News

Since their opening fixture United have added Carlos Baleba to their squad but their new addition will not feature for United this weekend due to an injury and fitness question mark coming into the squad. However, Carrick has no other injury concerns have arisen with Mount, De Ligt, Ugarte and Amad as the players likely missing through injury.

Predicting any changes from the defeat last weekend, I think the squad will only see 2 changes, with Dalot coming in for Mazraoui and I’m predicting a start for Rashford back at Old Trafford in place of Dorgu given how Ipswich may well take the same approach as Hull and United need to be more creative and dynamic in attack that Rashford can offer with Cunha leading the line and Mbeumo playing off the right.

Predicted XI: Lammens, Shaw, Heaven, Maguire, Dalot, Santos, Tielemans, Rashford, Fernandes, Mbeumo, Cunha

Key Battles

Given the limited changes for United, it will be the attacking line that comes under fire again if United struggle to find the back of the net in front of their expectant home crowd. Additionally, with our predicted start for Rashford, the expectation will be ramped up further with United needing to get off to a fast start despite Ipswich coming off a win last time out.

Diogo Dalot and Bryan Mbeumo may have a busy afternoon as Ipswich’s left-back Leif Davis has been a player who has a growing reputation for being a top player within the Ipswich side and he could nullify some of the threat off the right, adding even more pressure onto Rashford, Cunha and Fernandes to find alternative ways through.

Finally, after the mess of the 2 conceded goals against Hull, the predicted centre-back pairing of Heaven-Maguire will need to be switched on against Julio Enciso and their own Brazilian forward in Emersonn who bagged in his debut last weekend.

Prediction

After making myself look a bit foolish last time round with a 2-0 predicted win vs Hull City, I’m still sticking with a United win and clean sheet, as I believe the pressure will be massively on these players and the team, and with the Old Trafford support possibly able to spur the team to life, they simply can’t look as lethargic and wasteful in attack as they did last time round, and while Ipswich will pose a threat, I think it will be United’s chance to show people they’ve arrived properly this season.

Manchester United 3-0 Ipswich Town

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