How Man Utd could line up against Brentford with Erik ten Hag tearing up starting XI and bringing Cristiano Ronaldo back

MANCHESTER UNITED will be bidding to kick-start their Premier League season with a win at Brentford on Saturday evening.

Erik ten Hag's first game in charge ended in a 2-1 defeat as the Red Devils were embarrassed by Brighton at Old Trafford.

And, heading into the second weekend of the campaign, the Dutch manager does not have any new signings he can bring into the team.

Deals for Frenkie de Jong and Adrien Rabiot are continuing to stall, so Ten Hag will have to settle for the same players he had to choose from in the Brighton loss.

But that does not mean he will be sticking with the same team - with the potential for several changes to be made.

One which all Man Utd fans will expect to see is the return of Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese superstar has been working hard in training this week after a lack of pre-season game time saw him benched against Brighton.

He is set to lead the line instead of Christian Eriksen - who will likely drop back into the midfield.

Fred and Scott McTominay received a lot of criticism for their performances last time out.

And that could leave the door open for Donny van de Beek to earn a starting place in the middle of the park.

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Tyrell Malacia could receive his first competitive start in a United shirt in place of Luke Shaw.

Alongside the former Ajax left-back, Ten Hag may opt to drop big summer signing Lisandro Martinez after a disastrous debut.

Raphael Varane is available to start and he may return to partner skipper Harry Maguire for this one.

And then up front both Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho are in danger of losing their positions on the flanks.

Anthony Elanga is waiting in the wings to replace either of them - with Rashford the most likely one to drop to the bench.

That would likely see Elanga start on the right and Sancho swapping to the left.