Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans start for Manchester United against Aston Villa
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has selected Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans to start at centre-back against Aston Villa in place of Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez .
De Ligt and Martinez have been Ten Hag's first-choice centre-back pairing this season and have started United's last four Premier League matches.
Both also started Thursday's Europa League draw against Porto but were replaced by Evans and Maguire for the final 11 minutes of normal time after a disappointing defensive display. Maguire scored a 91st-minute equaliser for 10-man United in the 3-3 draw.
The Villa game will mark a first Premier League start of the season for Evans, 36, having so far been restricted to two substitute cameos against Fulham and Southampton in the top flight.
Maguire, 31, has not started in the Premier League since the defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on August 24 after losing his starting spot to summer signing De Ligt. He was subsequently not selected in Lee Carsley's England squad for October's Nations League fixtures.
United travel to Villa without a win in their last four in all competitions and having lost three of their last five in the Premier League, with Ten Hag the subject of increasing scrutiny.
The Athletic reported on Friday United's executive committee have a long-standing meeting arranged in London within 48 hours of Sunday's fixture.
Ten Hag rolls the dice in big game
Erik ten Hag has rolled the dice by starting Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans for a match of this consequence. Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt are his signings, seen as his first-choice pairing. So to drop them is a major move, even accounting for how they played in Porto.
The duo of Maguire, 31, and Evans, 36, was first seen at Leicester City in 2018-19, but here they are playing for United in 2024.
They will be asked to keep quiet a Aston Villa attack that has been purring. Ollie Watkins and inevitably Jhon Duran off the bench are both real threats for defenders. Ten Hag, with so much scrutiny over his position, really needs the selection to work.
(Shaun Botterill/)
