Manchester United: Mason Greenwood to start up front vs Arsenal

With Rashford and Martial ruled out, 17-year-old Mason Greenwood could start against Arsenal on Monday, aiming to score in a 3rd consecutive home match.

It will most certainly be the toughest test of his entire career to date: Mason Greenwood is almost set in stone to start for Manchester United at Old Trafford on Monday, as they take on rivals Arsenal in a fixture that always produces friction.

Due to Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial both being ruled out of the match, Greenwood is the only fully reliable centre-forward option for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, unless he wishes to sub himself on instead! The Red Devils got rid of both Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez in the summer, meaning that there is a lack of depth and experience in their frontline.

Greenwood is fearless though, and we’ve seen that in the last 2 matches at Old Trafford. His teammates and coach have struggled mightily, but Greenwood has essentially bailed them out in both fixtures, scoring the winner against Astana in the Europa League, before putting them 1-0 ahead against Rochdale in the Carabao Cup, and scoring in the ensuing penalty shootout as well after Rochdale equalised.

If that isn’t proof that the youngster is ready for the next step, then I don’t know what is.

Playing against Arsenal is a rather large test though, regardless of how poor their backline has been playing. The atmosphere is going to be intense and the opposition is going to possess some world-class talent: in other words, Greenwood has really never seen anything like it before.

While Arsenal fans might be chuckling to themselves at the though of a 17-year-old starting against them, this match has eerie similarities to a clash between these 2 sides in early 2016, where debutant Marcus Rashford was laughed off by the Gunners faithful before the match, only to go ahead and score a brace while making a fool of their backline at the same time.

Greenwood will be hoping for a repeat of that situation, and based on his quality and potential, it isn’t out of the picture.

While Manchester United normally tend to do well against Arsenal at Old Trafford, they are in dire form at the moment, while the Gunners have won 3 straight matches. It won’t be easy, but the possibility of Mason Greenwood scoring an important goal against a club as hated by the Old Trafford faithful as Arsenal, is a thought that will keep the fans on edge throughout the 90 minutes.