{"id":292517,"date":"2025-07-26T05:44:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T05:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/292517\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T05:44:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T05:44:16","slug":"how-manchester-united-should-line-up-for-pre-season-friendly-fixture-vs-west-ham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/292517\/","title":{"rendered":"How Manchester United should line up for pre-season friendly fixture vs West Ham"},"content":{"rendered":"

Man United face Premier League counterparts West Ham United in their opening game of their pre-season tour of the United States.\"Steven<\/p>\n

Steven is a senior writer and covers Manchester United for the Manchester Evening News. You can follow Steven on Twitter at @StevenRailston.<\/p>\n

\"ARuben Amorim will be eyeing a good performance against West Ham United.(Image: Ash Donelon\/Manchester United via Getty Images.)<\/p>\n

Manchester United will be targeting a winning start to the Premier League Summer Series when they face West Ham United at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

The opening game of United’s<\/a> pre-season tour of the United States will see them lock horns with the Hammers with the ambition of securing their first win of their pre-season campaign, following last weekend’s 0-0 draw with Leeds United in Stockholm.<\/p>\n

Bryan Mbeumo<\/a> is expected to make his United debut after arriving from Brentford on Monday, while fellow summer signings Diego Leon and Matheus Cunha<\/a> will be hoping to build on the 45 minutes they stored under their belts against Leeds.<\/p>\n

Head coach Ruben Amorim<\/a> has taken 33 players to the US with him, meaning he has plenty of scope to mix things up and experiment. Below, our writers have had their say on how they would like to see United line up…<\/p>\n

Steven Railston:<\/p>\n

Tom Heaton should be the second-choice goalkeeper, so he should start against West Ham. Yoro came on for the second half in the opening friendly against Leeds in Stockholm and it’s logical to start him.<\/p>\n

Kobbie Mainoo caught the eye when he played in the deeper midfield role against Leeds and I would start him alongside Bruno Fernandes in the pivot, as I still believe that’s where his future lies.<\/p>\n

Mbeumo needs to get up to speed after signing for United earlier in the week – he should start if he can manage the opening 45 minutes. Pre-season is the perfect time to experiment and I’d play Amad down the middle because it would be exciting to see him alongside Mbeumo and Cunha.<\/p>\n

George Smith:<\/p>\n

Heaton did his chances of moving up the pecking order no harm at all in the second half against Leeds, making a handful of good saves. With Onana absent through injury, he will be hoping to take full advantage.<\/p>\n

Amorim has plenty of scope to mix things up across the back line, meaning he could deploy one of several centre-back combinations. But after starting on the bench last weekend, I would like to see Yoro and Heaven in from the start.<\/p>\n

Dalot was bright off the bench in Stockholm and deserves a starting berth for this one, likewise Dorgu. Mainoo and Fernandes are a logical paring in midfield.<\/p>\n

Mbeumo is who everyone wants to catch a glimpse of this weekend and he should start if he is ready to. Cunha and Hojlund can join him in attack.<\/p>\n

\"AHow Manchester United could line-up against West Ham United.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Man United face Premier League counterparts West Ham United in their opening game of their pre-season tour of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,423,31229,11507,16,15,11846],"class_list":{"0":"post-292517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-manchester-united-fc","13":"tag-manchester-united-fc-pre-season-tour","14":"tag-manchester-united-fixtures","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-west-ham-united-fc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114917952415266234","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}