Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Hints at Which Academy Players Will Start in Carabao Cup Meeting With Chelsea

​Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has claimed that youngsters James Garner and Brandon Williams will "probably" start in their Carabao Cup game away at Chelsea on Wednesday.


The Red Devils just edged through their first cup match earlier this season thanks to a penalty shootout win over Rochdale, where then 16-year-old Luke Matheson cancelled out Mason Greenwood's opener at Old Trafford.


United are currently on a three-game unbeaten run across all competitions and are back in the top half of the Premier League table, but Solskjaer insists he will look to rotate things against Chelsea by bringing the likes of Garner and Williams back into the first-team.

James Garner

"I thought he was excellent because he’s calmed us down when we wanted to see the game out," Solskjaer said about Garner's performance against Norwich City on Sunday," quoted by the club's official website.

"So we’ve not made a decision on who is going to play [at Chelsea] but you’ll probably see the two of them [Garner and Williams].

"We know it’s been tough and we know that we’ve asked a lot of them because Paul [Pogba], Luke [Shaw], Anthony [Martial] – there are loads of other players that have been injured.


"For us, the youngsters have stepped up in a difficult period. But in the end, they’ll be stronger for it."

While Solskjaer is expected to turn to the club's youth system as a stop-gap for first-team injuries this week, the Manchester United boss confirmed he's already lined up two players to fill Pogba's boots which the Frenchman continues to recover from injury.

Paul Pogba,Marcus Rashford,Andreas Pereira

The World Cup winner is expected to come back to full fitness just in time for the busy Christmas schedule, but Solskjaer insists Manchester United have ample cover for Pogba in midfielders Fred and Andreas Pereira.


"Fred will probably take Paul’s position for a while now and he’s been brilliant for us, but Andreas has grown the last few games," he added.


"His energy and running, chasing - he's a different sort of no.10, he can play also in the central positions. So I’m delighted for Andreas - great professional, great attitude. He does his job to the best of his abilities."


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Source : 90min