Dugout Discussion

Fernandes and Pogba both start against injury-hit Bournemouth defence

Bruno Fernandes (£8.8m) and Paul Pogba (£8.3m) both start for Manchester United as Bournemouth come to Old Trafford.

The pair were subject of an injury rumour circling around some quarters of the media on Friday evening, but it would appear they came through the most recent training session unscathed.

In fact, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has named an unchanged line-up from the side that won comfortably at Brighton, much to the delight of Fantasy managers interested in their assets.

At a time when Manchester United options are in such high-demand, it is encouraging to know that the manager has found a settled selection. This is the first time since November 2006 that an unchanged XI has been named in three successive Premier League matches.

That means Mason Greenwood (£4.4m) is on the right-hand side of attacking midfield once more, joined there by Fernandes and Marcus Rashford (£9.1m).

Meanwhile, Anthony Martial (£8.2m) starts up-front hoping to replicate his most recent Old Trafford outing, which saw the Frenchman score a hat-trick against Bournemouth.

A further boost for Manchester United backers has emerged in the form of injuries to Chris Mepham (£4.3m) and Steve Cook (£5.0m), who was reprimanded by Eddie Howe this week for publicly criticising Bournemouth.

With Simon Francis (£4.4m) still on the sidelines, a dearth of options has forced the Bournemouth manager into some tough decisions with his defence.

Left-back Lloyd Kelly (£4.4m) has tucked into centre-back alongside Nathan Aké (£4.8m) with Diego Rico (£4.2m) earning his first start since Gameweek 26.

Elsewhere, Leicester host Crystal Palace, although that fixture has considerably less Fantasy interest.

Jamie Vardy (£9.7m) remains the most popular Fox, sat in 26.2% of teams, but has just two goals since Gameweek 19.

That statistic does not particularly bode well given that Roy Hodgson’s men have four clean sheets from their last six matches.

It is also frustrating news for the 15.1% still in possession of James Maddison (£7.4m), who does not make the matchday squad while Harvey Barnes (£6.0m) is among the substitutes for the third match in a row since the Premier League returned.

Leicester City XI: Schmeichel; Chilwell, Söyüncü, Evans, Justin; Pérez, Tielemans, Ndidi, Albrighton; Iheanacho, Vardy.

Crystal Palace XI: Guaita; van Aanholt, Cahill, Sakho, J Ward; Zaha, Riedewald, Milivojevic, McArthur; Benteke, Ayew.

Manchester United XI: De Gea; Shaw, Maguire, Lindelöf, Wan-Bissaka; Pogba, Matić; Rashford, B Fernandes, Greenwood; Martial.

Bournemouth XI: Ramsdale, Rico, Aké, L Kelly, A Smith; Stanislas, L Cook, Lerma, Brooks; J King, Solanke.

2,491 Comments Post a Comment
  1. CroatianHammer
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 9 months ago

    My Rashford TC looked good for a while, but well done anyone who went with Bruno. 33 from the match, Arsenal next.

  2. Eze Really?
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 9 months ago

    I am in a big money 5 man mini league and we all have 10 same players!

  3. Eze Really?
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 9 months ago

    An England team to luck forward to I think.
    Greenwood Foden Rashford Sancho TAA Henderson Sterling Williams Holgate.
    Fit the old boys around that lot and the world cup is coming home.