Scotland’s Scott McTominay looks set to play an important role for Manchester United as they make an unlikely charge for the Premier League title.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has had his critics this season but Manchester United have snuck up into joint-first over the New Year with leaders Liverpool dropping points to Newcastle United and West Brom.
Their latest success was a 2-1 win over Aston Villa, in which McTominay again started and completed 65 minutes. The Scotland man has been a regular for Solskjaer in recent matches.
He has started seven of the last nine games and took his Manchester United appearance record over 100 last month. Now Solskjaer looks set to hand him and midfield partner Fred a continued role.
While aware he has a strong squad, Fred and McTominay could feature in the engine room more regularly than the likes of Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic, this area of the park a talking point at Manchester United this term.
Speaking before the win over Villa, Solskjaer said: “We have a strong squad. We’ve rotated a lot and not really found, you’d say, a settled XI this season but I don’t think it’s about that anyway.
“It’s going to be about a squad of 25-26 players and I think, towards the end of the season, that will help us. It has to be done this way. When you leave out Scott and Fred, it’s not easy because they deserve to play every game.
“But Nemanja and Paul played so well against Everton that I wanted that midfield against Wolves. We’ll be getting injuries and suspensions, that will happen, but our squad is well capable and ready for every game.”