Six Premier League matches take place this afternoon, with three of them featuring new head coaches.
Norwich City, Aston Villa and Newcastle United are all on home soil as Dean Smith, Steven Gerrard and Eddie Howe take charge of their respective clubs for the first time, although Howe will be managing ‘remotely’ after testing positive for Covid-19.
The Canaries face Southampton, Villa entertain Brighton and Hove Albion, and the Magpies welcome Brentford to St James’ Park.
The other three fixtures kicking off at the traditional time are Burnley v Crystal Palace, Watford v Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers v West Ham United.
There’s no sign of the much-expected 4-4-2 on Tyneside as Howe seemingly goes with a wing-back system for the clash with Brentford. His three alterations see Fabian Schar replace Emil Krafth at the back, Joe Willock come in for Isaac Hayden in midfield and Joelinton replace Miguel Almiron out wide.
In fact, it’s Thomas Frank who appears to have gone to a back four – something that will likely see Bryan Mbeumo move into a wider role. Mads Roerslev and Saman Ghoddos replace Zanka and Mathias Jensen in the Bees manager’s starting XI.
Smith recalls Todd Cantwell and Billy Gilmour to his starting XI, with the fit-again Grant Hanley returning, too. Andrew Omobamidele and Pierre Lees-Melou drop to the bench, while Kieran Dowell misses out.
Ralph Hasenhuttl’s sole alteration is seemingly enforced, with Ibrahima Diallo in for the absent Stuart Armstrong. Armando Broja is a substitute.
Three is the magic number with the new Premier League managers, as Gerrard goes for a hat-trick of alterations: Ezri Konsa, Jacob Ramsey and Danny Ings return, with Axel Tuanzebe, Anwar El Ghazi and Leon Bailey making way.
Opposite number Graham Potter goes one better, with Jason Steele, Adam Webster, Pascal Gross and Jakub Moder coming into the Brighton side. Joel Veltman, Solly March and Enock Mwepu all drop out, while Robert Sanchez is suspended.
At Vicarage Road, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hands starts to Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Nemanja Matic at the expense of Mason Greenwood, Eric Bailly and Fred. Greenwood misses out after testing positive for Covid-19.
Claudio Ranieri also makes a triple change, with Adam Masina, Imran Louza and Tom Cleverley in for Danny Rose, Ozan Tufan and the banned Juraj Kucka.
It’s one alteration apiece at Molineux as Daniel Podence replaces Francisco Trincao, and Craig Dawson is in for the injured Angelo Ogbonna. Raul Jimenez starts for Wolves after his late-ish return from international duty.
Sean Dyche names an unchanged team but Patrick Vieira has made two alterations: Luka Milivojevic comes in for the injured James McArthur, while Jordan Ayew is preferred to the benched Odsonne Edouard in attack.
GAMEWEEK 12 LINE-UPS
Aston Villa XI: Martínez, Cash, Targett, Konsa, Mings, McGinn, Buendía, Watkins, Nakamba, Ings, Ramsey.
Subs: Steer, Hause, Young, El Ghazi, Davis, Sanson, Chukwuemeka, Bailey, Tuanzebe
Brighton XI: Steele, Lamptey, Cucurella, Duffy, Webster, Dunk, Bissouma, Moder, Trossard, Gross, Lallana.
Subs: Scherpen, Maupay, Richards, Mac Allister, Sarmiento, March, Burn, Locadia, Veltman.
Burnley XI: Pope, Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Gudmundsson, Westwood, Brownhill, McNeil, Cornet, Wood.
Subs: Hennessey, Cork, Lennon, Rodriguez, Collins, Pieters, Bardsley, Vydra, Long.
Crystal Palace XI: Guaita, Ward, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell, Milivojevic, Gallagher, Kouyate, Zaha, Ayew, Benteke.
Subs: Butland, Tomkins, Olise, Eze, Hughes, Schlupp, Clyne, Edouard, Kelly.
Newcastle XI: Darlow, Murphy, Schar, Lascelles, Clark, Ritchie, Joelinton, Willock, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Wilson.
Subs: Dubravka, Lewis, Hayden, Krafth, Manquillo, Fraser, Almirón, Gayle, Longstaff.
Brentford XI: Fernandez, Roerslev, Jansson, Pinnock; Canos, Ghoddos, Norgaard, Janelt, Henry; Mbeumo, Toney
Subs: Cox, Thompson, Goode, Forss, Onyeka, Baptiste, Bidstrup, Maghoma, Haygarth
Norwich XI: Krul, Aarons, Hanley, Gibson, Williams, Normann, McLean, Cantwell, Gilmour, Rashica, Pukki.
Subs: Gunn, Rupp, Placheta, Tzolis, Lees-Melou, Sargent, Giannoulis, Idah, Omobamidele.
Southampton XI: McCarthy, Livramento, Bednarek, Salisu, Walker-Peters, Diallo, Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Elyounoussi, Armstrong, Adams.
Subs: Forster, Lyanco, Long, Perraud, Broja, Smallbone, Tella, Walcott, Valery.
Watford XI: Foster, Louza, King, Cleverley, Masina, Nkoulou, Cathcart, Sissoko, Femenia, Sarr, Dennis.
Subs: Bachmann, Ngakia, Rose, Ekong, Pedro, Goslin, Fletcher, Tufan, Hernandez.
Man Utd XI: De Gea, Lindelof, Maguire, Ronaldo, Rashford, Fernandes, Shaw, Sancho, Wan-Bissaka, Matic, McTominay.
Subs: Heaton, Bailly, Mata, Martial, Lingard, Fred, Dalot, Telles, Van de Beek
Wolves XI: Sa, Kilman, Coady, Saiss, Nelson Semedo, Neves, Joao Moutinho, Ait-Nouri, Podence, Hwang, Jimenez
Subs: Ruddy, Hoever, Marcal, Trincao, Boly, Silva, Dendoncker, Traore, Cundle
West Ham XI: Fabianski, Johnson, Zouma, Dawson, Cresswell, Soucek, Rice, Bowen, Fornals, Benrahma, Antonio
Subs: Areola, Coufal, Yarmolenko, Lanzini, Vlasic, Noble, Diop, Masuaku, Kral
2 years, 6 months ago
Definetly seeing a reaction today lol