Manchester United will play their first match of their pre-season tour against LA Galaxy at the StubHub Center in Los Angeles in the early hours of Sunday morning UK time.
The Red Devils are expected to field a strong side against LA and are expected to hand debuts to new signings Victor Lindelof and Romelu Lukaku. The pair have had their shirt numbers confirmed by the club, Lindelof will wear the no.2 jersey while Lukaku will don the no.9 shirt – previously worn by Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Galaxy provide a fitting connection for United as they’re the club heavily linked with Ibrahimovic, who has said a ‘big announcement’ about his future is imminent.
Curt Onalfo’s team are familiar pre-season opponents for United. They last met three years ago in Louis Van Gaal’s first game in charge, United won 7-0 with Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young and Reece James all netting braces, while Danny Welbeck completed the scoring.
Team News
Jose Mourinho has already confirmed that David De Gea will play the first 45 minutes and Joel Pereira will play in the second half.
Lukaku and Lindelof are expected to feature for the first time and it's likely Eric Bailly will partner the Swede in defence as Mourinho looks to mould and grow their partnership before the season starts.
Luke Shaw has impressed the boss with his attitude since returning for pre-season and will be given another chance to prove himself and become the first choice left back. Otherwise, United are expected to field a strong team so expect Paul Pogba, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Rashford all to feature.
Mourinho will also look at youngsters Scott McTominay and Demetri Mitchell who travelled with the squad to the US. United have plenty of matches and there will be plenty of rotation. They will face Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona on tour while fixtures against Valerenga and Sampdoria are also included in the pre-season schedule.
LA Galaxy are without injured midfielder Jermaine Jones, who suffered an MCL strain and is expected to be out for another month.
Form
LA Galaxy are in the middle of their MLS campaign. They currently lie in eighth place in the Western Conference and are on a run of three consecutive defeats, the most recent was a 6-2 home defeat against Real Salt Lake City. Former Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole netted one of Galaxy’s goals.
Possible XI
Manchester United: De Gea, Valencia, Lindelof, Bailly, Shaw, Pogba, Carrick, Herrera, Rashford, Mkhitaryan, Lukaku.
LA Galaxy: Diop, Smith, Diallo, Romney, Cole, Jaime Villarreal, J. Pedro, Jamieson, Jose Villarreal, Boateng, McInerney.