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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
George Smith

Manchester United fans react to starting line-up vs Middlesbrough as Paul Pogba starts

Interim manager Ralf Rangnick has named his starting line-up for Manchester United's FA Cup fourth-round showdown against Middlesbrough at Old Trafford this evening, making some interesting selection calls.

United, who have lost just one of their last 13 clashes with Boro, will be looking to register a third successive victory in all competitions following triumphs over Brentford and West Ham United prior to the recent winter break.

Despite some performances having been questioned, United have started to turn the screw recently under Rangnick, and Marcus Rashford's last-gasp winner against the Hammers last time out means that they enter tonight's cup tie as a top-four Premier League side.

Rangnick, who watched United knock Aston Villa out of the FA Cup in round three, has made five changes to the side that beat West Ham 13 days ago.

Dean Henderson, Luke Shaw, Paul Pogba - starting for the first time since November - Jadon Sancho and Rashford have been named in Rangnick's side.

Phil Jones and Fred are amongst the substitutes, but both Jesse Lingard and Edinson Cavani, as revealed by Rangnick on Thursday, have not been included in the matchday squad.

Rangnick will be hoping that the players he has called upon will have enough about them to progress to round five and avoid a major cup upset at the hands of Chris Wilder's Middlesbrough, who arrive at Old Trafford camped just outside the Championship play-off places.

It is Pogba's return to the starting line-up following a lengthy injury lay-off that has attracted the most attention from United's supporters in the immediate aftermath of the team news being confirmed.

Below, MEN Sport has taken a look at what some of United's supporters have had to say in response to Rangnick's decision to throw Pogba straight back into the starting line-up.

As you can see from the messages displayed in the tweets above, Pogba's return to the side has gone down extremely well, as has Rangnick's decision to go with such a strong line-up, especially in attack. Tonight's match will mark Pogba's first Old Trafford appearance since being sent off in the 5-0 defeat to Liverpool in October.

United starting line-up: Henderson; Dalot, Varane, Maguire, Shaw; McTominay, Pogba, Fernandes; Sancho, Ronaldo, Rashford.

Substitutes: Grant, Heaton, Jones, Wan-Bissaka, Fred, Hannibal, Mata, Matic, Elanga.

This evening's contest gets underway at 8pm and you can follow all of the action live on our matchday blog, which you can access by clicking here.

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