Manchester United are on an incredible run of form under Ten Hag. At home they have not dropped points since October and this selection has landed in six of their last seven at Old Trafford – with the only exception being Manchester City. Whilst they are likely to rotate players, the newcomers will want to impress and they have won each of their three cup games at home – Charlton, Burnley and Aston Villa – by an aggregate score of 9-2 and this selection has landed in all three of those matches.

Reading’s away form is as bad as Manchester United’s home form is good. They have kept one clean sheet away from home since mid-September and were humiliated against a poor Stoke last time out. They will likely sit back and try to frustrate Manchester United but defensively, they have not been solid enough to do this and this should lead to plenty of United opportunities. On the road they have conceded at least 1.95 expected goals in three of their last four and four of their last six playing against sides much worse than the Red Devils.

Garnacho has been highly impressive this season having been given a chance by his manager. He has scored two goals and got four assists in limited minutes and has started six games – two in the domestic cups, as well as two of the group stage matches in the Europa League and at Aston Villa and Wolves in the league. In those six matches, he had at least one shot in every game and at least one shot on target in five of them. The only exception to this was his first start against Sheriff Tiraspol where he had two shots. In total he has had 12 shots in those matches, despite playing less than 65 minutes in both league starts as well as just 58 minutes against Burnley. Ten Hag trusted him to play the full 90 minutes against Charlton in his last start where he had four shots – one of which on target.

Mamadou Loum has committed the 7th most fouls in the whole of the Championship and the most of any Reading player this season with 41 despite only starting 19 games. He has conceded two or more in 14 of his matches and in just six of his starts he has not made two or more fouls. Paul Ince will be looking to disrupt Manchester United as much as he can and that starts by trying to slow down their play in the middle of the park – which is what the Senegalese midfielder does best. Manchester United are likely to play with Fred and McTominay in midfield and they have both been fouled five times each in the league in limited appearances. The Scottish midfielder was fouled once in each of the cup starts he was given against Chartlon, Burnley and Aston Villa and Fred was fouled once against Charlton and in his 20 minutes off the bench against Everton in the previous round of the FA Cup.

Harry Maguire has been under plenty of pressure since his big money move from Leicester to Manchester United and there has been talk of him moving away from the club in this transfer window but it is looking likely that he will stay. He has not been given many opportunities but for England in the World Cup, he attempted at least 70 passes in all five of their games. Whilst his numbers have not been so high for his club this season, he should see more of the ball here.

Manchester United average 51.9% of the ball in the league this season, the sixth most in the division. Regular starters Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane have averaged 63.4 and 47.9 passes per match in the league but these numbers should increase against Reading. Reading are dead last in the Championship for their share of the ball – averaging just 41.7% across the season. In their last five games, they have faced ten centre backs that have played the full 90 minutes. Among these players, five have had 66 or more and across the ten, they have averaged 59.3 attempted passes per game. Manchester United should see more of the ball than these teams and that should mean that the English centre back should see more of the ball in turn.