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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
George Smith

Manchester United fans react to starting line-up vs Watford as Jadon Sancho benched

Interim manager Ralf Rangnick has named his starting line-up for Manchester United's Premier League tussle with Watford at Old Trafford this afternoon, making some huge selection calls.

United, who were beaten 4-1 by the Hornets in the final game of the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer era back in November, will be looking to extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to six matches following Wednesday evening's 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid in the first-leg of their Champions League last-16 showdown at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.

Anthony Elanga, for the second game in succession, stepped off the bench to net an unlikely-looking equaliser. His strike maintained United's recent run of good form, meaning they will be hoping to continue that trend against the relegation-threatened Hornets.

Rangnick, who will be hoping to lead United to a second consecutive home win, has made four changes to the side that drew in the Spanish capital.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Alex Telles, Nemanja Matic and Elanga have come into the side, meaning Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho have dropped out.

Meanwhile, Diogo Dalot and Jesse Lingard have been named amongst the substitutes. Scott McTominay and Edinson Cavani, however, are both absent once again because of illness and injury respectively.

Having made four changes to the side that drew in midweek, Rangnick will be hoping that it proves to be enough to inspire United to a third successive Premier League win and make up for the 4-1 drubbing they experienced against Watford earlier this season.

It is the German's decision to drop Sancho to the bench that has attracted the most attention from United's supporters in the immediate aftermath of the team news being confirmed, with the England international having shown tremendous signs of promise in recent weeks.

Below, MEN Sport has taken a close look at what some of United's supporters have had to say in response to Sancho being named on the bench.

As you can see from the messages displayed in the tweets above, Rangnick's decision to omit Sancho from his starting line-up has stunned United's supporters. The England ace has been excellent in recent matches and started to justify his big-money price-tag. However, a high volume of recent fixtures may have swayed the German's thinking.

United starting line-up: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Lindelof, Telles; Fred, Matic, Fernandes; Elanga, Ronaldo, Pogba.

Substitutes: Henderson, Dalot, Jones, Maguire, Shaw, Lingard, Mata, Rashford, Sancho.

This afternoon's tussle at Old Trafford gets under way at 3:00pm and you can follow all of the action on our matchday blog, which you can access by clicking here.

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