Manchester United fans let rip at ‘negative’ new boss Ralf Rangnick after he named Fred and Scott McTominay in his first starting XI.

The German takes charge of his Red Devils at home to Crystal Palace this afternoon.

And he opted to start the defensive midfield duo into the unchanged team from the side that started Thursday’s win over Arsenal.

One of the big casualties, therefore, is Donny van de Beek who must settle for a spot on the bench as Patrick Vieira’s side make the trip north.

David De Gea starts in goal at Old Trafford with a back four of Diogo Dalot, Victor Lindelof, captain Harry Maguire and Alex Telles.

Fred and McTominay are the midfield pairing with Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford either side of Bruno Fernandes.

And Cristiano Ronaldo leads the line for Rangnick with the likes of Mason Greenwood and Juan Mata waiting in the wings ready to make an impact as subs.

Dean Henderson, Eric Bailly, Anthony Elanga, Nemanja Matic, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and forgotten-man Phil Jones make up the rest of the United replacements.

That meant there was no place in the matchday 20 for Jesse Lingard or birthday-boy Anthony Martial after complaining of problems on Saturday.

Explaining his choices, Rangnick said: “The team won against Arsenal, they did well especially in the second half.

“Since everybody was fully fit and recovered there was no need to change the first XI.

“They need to enjoy it, it’s a question of energy – you could see it against Arsenal, in the end, they wanted to win that game, they invested a lot of energy into it.

“This, together with the massive support of the fans, should also be an advantage for us today.

“Jesse and Anthony indicated after training yesterday they didn’t feel well and had pain – this is why they are not in the squad.”

But United supporters fumed at the interim boss for his midfield selections while McFred was trending within minutes of the lineup being confirmed at 1pm.

One said: “McTominay starts, Van de Beek a sub. I am the first Ralf Rangnick out!”

Another wrote: “It’s Palace at home, why is Ralf being so negative with McFred? Ridiculous.”

A third added: “We could have a prime Roy Keane and Claude Makelele and McFred would still play!”

And a final user commented: “So Dalot ahead of AWB. No start for VDB. And Elanga ahead of Amad, Lingard and Martial. Interesting.”

Mason Mount steps up and stores Chelsea’s lead with an absolute cracker!

West Ham are caught on the break and Hakim Ziyech switches play out wide to the right-hand side.

Mount takes it on first-time and side-foots the ball into the back of the net!

Photo Credit: ChelseaFC/Twitter

Chelsea have the opening goal of the game!

Michail Antonio lets his man Thiago Silva go and the Brazilian makes no mistake with the finish.

Poor from the Hammers striker, who isn’t putting in the same effort the rest of his team-mates are.

Photo Credit: ChelseaFC/Twitter

Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has explained why Arsenal’s bizarre opening goal against Manchester United wasn’t disallowed.

Emile Smith Rowe gave the Gunners the lead after 13 minutes at Old Trafford on Thursday night but his goal came in controversial circumstances.

David De Gea did get hurt during the corner-kick, but the injury was caused by his OWN team-mate Fred! Therefore, there is no foul.

The United keeper went down and Smith Rowe hit the back of the net with a shot from the edge of the box!

Referee Martin Atkinson appeared to be considering disallowing the goal but former Premier League official Clattenburg says he had no choice but to award the goal.

Speaking on Prime Video, Clattenburg said: “He has to give the goal here.

“Fred accidentally stamps on De Gea so it’s not a foul. He doesn’t blow his whistle [before the ball crosses the line] so he has to give the goal.”

Former England goalkeeper Rob Green, meanwhile, said on BBC Radio 5 Live: “It is an incredible decision.

“Yes, you have head injuries that are allowed to stop the game. But this is a genuine injury.

“It is impossible for Manchester United to do anything to stop the goal. De Gea would have saved it. An unbelievable decision. Amazing.”

At half-time, Amazon Prime’s pundits for the game all agreed that the right decision had been made.

Alan Shearer said: “It’s a goal because I didn’t see or hear the referee blow. Didn’t see a serious foul on the keeper.

“Only when you see it close you see his own player Fred actually stands on him.

“I don’t think I’m being too harsh here, the game hasn’t changed that much, that happens every game where someone is standing on your foot or on your ankle.

“With him going down like that – not a care to where the ball is. Yes, they hurt but I don’t think he should be staying down like that.

“He was back on his feet a minute later so couldn’t have hurt that much.”

Thierry Henry added: “When the ball went in Alan said it should be a goal and I seconded it because you didn’t hear the whistle before so you’re in trouble.

“If you blew the whistle before then you can have a discussion. The only rule that I know is you play until the whistle.”

Photo Credit: premierleague/Twitter

Edouard Mendy

Fabulous save prevented an Azpilicueta own goal and saved well from Danny Rose as well. Good anticipation to block Cleverley 20 yards outside his box. Solid. 7

Cesar Azpilicueta

Had a very tough assignment up against Emmanuel Dennis and it was one the Watford man was winning comfortably early on. Looked like a player who hadn’t had many minutes for a while and it showed. Replaced by Lukaku with 20 minutes to go. 5

Trevoh Chalobah

Huge clearance from under his own crossbar inside two minutes as Chelsea were on the ropes in the opening stages. Moved into midfield after the break with Saul hooked but subbed off 15 minutes later with a suspected hamstring injury. 6

Andreas Christensen

Made his first start in almost a month amid his contract stand-off and was bombarded in the first period by Josh King, who had him beaten. Better after the break with Silva introduced but a bit sluggish having not played for a while. 6

Antonio Rudiger

Clever pass set Alonso away in the build-up to Mount’s opener but didn’t cover himself in glory for Dennis’ leveller and put in by far and away his worst 45 minutes of the season in the first half. Improvement after the break but he couldn’t have been much worse. 6

Marcos Alonso

Watford targeted him very early on and he looked incredibly rattled. Showed good touch and poise for Mount’s opener but the first half was brutal for the Spaniard. Got forward as lot as usual but his limitations were exposed regularly. 5

Saul Niguez
Just his second start in the Premier League and had a very sloppy first half as he again showed he hasn’t yet adapted to the speed of English football and was booked in the first half. Positionally all over the place gave the ball away too often, no surprise he was hooked at half time. 4

Ruben Loftus-Cheek

The game seemed to pass him by in the first half as the midfielder barely featured apart from giving the ball away poorly in the lead up to the equaliser for Dennis. Struggled to really get a foothold in the game, though he did improver after half time. 6

Mason Mount

Crashed an effort off the post after the game restarted as Chelsea finally arrived. He bagged the opener just before the half hour, then showed good movement and composure found Ziyech for 2-1. Showed his quality when Chelsea needed him the most. 8

Christian Pulisic

Could have had an assist had he released Havertz earlier but the German ran offside. Moved to wing-back after Lukaku’s introduction but had a quiet game all told. 6

Kai Havertz

Very unselfish to square for Mount to open the scoring but it was the right decision but was very quiet in the first 45 minutes. Improved after the break, forced a good save from Bachmann. 7

Substitutes

Thiago Silva (for Saul, 46′)
Brought on to shore Chelsea up after a hopeless first half and he did exactly that. Tuchel really would have wanted to have given him the night off but couldn’t. 7

Hakim Ziyech (for Chalobah, 60′)

Booked within a couple of minutes of coming on but scored 12 minutes after his introduction what would turn out to be the winner. 7

Romelu Lukaku (for Azpilicueta, 70′)

Occupied the Watford centre backs and had one half chance which was blocked. No rating.

Photo Credit: ChelseaFC/WatfordFC/Twitter

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel isn’t satisfied with the performance as he described the result as a “lucky win” and is worried about Trevoh Chalobah’s injury.

Tuchel told Amazon: “That’s not us. We were absolutely not ready today for this match. I missed maybe to find the right approach to make my team ready. We had the break due to very sad circumstances – hopefully the person is better.

“Even this break after the first 11 minutes did not change our approach. We did not cope with the pressure, with the first ball, second ball.

“We had a lot of changes but too many faults. It did not get better. The only thing we could do was hang in there and focus on the easy things. It was a lucky win.

“I see this totally as an exception from the rule. I will not insist too long on this match because it’s so unusual for us to play like this.

“The next game on Saturday, the most worried I am is about the injury for Trevoh Chalobah. The doctor was on the pitch 20 times today it felt like. It’s a big loss from Trev. I’m a bit worried.

” [Kai] Havertz was very strong today. I felt he was the one player reaching his level today. We missed some players. We had some players overloaded. We stole three points. We don’t have to talk around it. For the first time it feels like a lucky win”

Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech ensured the visitors defeated Watford in an immensely eventful and dramatic encounter at Vicarage Road.

Two moments of quality from the league leaders prove to be the difference as they are pushed all the way by Claudio Ranieri’s side.

The match was halted after 13 minutes when a fan suffered a cardiac arrest in the Graham Taylor Stand.

The game was paused for half an hour until the supporter was stabilised and taken to a nearby hospital.

Chelsea opened the scoring on 29 minutes when a delicious ball by Antonio Rudiger found Marcos Alonso down the left flank and the full-back passed to Kai Havertz in the penalty area.

That is where the Germany international switched to Mason Mount to his right and the forward beat Daniel Bachmann with a clinical finish.

But Watford wouldn’t be denied as Moussa Sissoko led the counter-attack and passed to Emmanuel Dennis to his right.

Dennis beat Edouard Mendy with a composed finish and made it 1-1 just two minutes before half-time.

But Chelsea ended up being the winners thanks to a brilliant team goal on 72 minutes when Rudiger crossed from midfield to Alonso down the left flank and the full-back nodded it to Mount on his left.

The England international delivered a wonderful low ball to the penalty area where Hakim Ziyech picked it up and smashed the ball behind Bachmann’s net/

Photo Credit: ChelseaFC/WatfordFC/Twitter

Roy Keane disagreed with ‘everything’ interim manager Michael Carrick said after Manchester United’s draw with Chelsea in the Premier League.

Following United’s 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge, Carrick said: ‘I’m disappointed actually. When you are in front in a game like this to have it taken away is disappointing.

“I’m proud of the players and the group all week. An a difficult situation we tried to make the best of it. But there is that little bitter feeling. We came to win the game. A little disappointed, I can’t lie.

“I don’t think it was a penalty at all. They have had a lot of shots David had two saves which we knew before the game he would have to make one or two. Other than that I have felt quite comfortable in the game.

“Of course we want to be better. I am not getting carried away but I thought we defended well. I cannot fault the boys one bit.

“To come away disappointed and to feel like you have left something out there is a positive.’

Responding to Carrick’s comments, Keane told Sky Sports: ‘I disagree with everything he said in that interview. Everything he said.

“He’s talking about a plan, he’s talking about the penalty. Of course it’s a penalty. We’ve all looked at it and it’s a penalty.

“He’s talking about effort and he’s proud of them. He’s been working with them for months under Ole. All of a sudden he’s proud of them?

“Why aren’t they making an effort in the other games? He’s praising players for doing their jobs. It’s ridiculous.”

Photo Credit: ManUtd/Twitter

David De Gea has admited “feeling danger for nearly the whole game” between Manchester United and Chelsea which ended 1-1.

The Blues dominated the first half but the visitors picked their moment after the break to go 1-0 up.

The goal came when Jadon Sancho pickpocketed a sluggish Jorginho to slide the ball past Edouard Mendy and give Man Utd the lead.

However, the Euro 2020-winner made amends from the penalty spot after Aaron Wan Bissaka brought down Reece James.

The home side still dominated, possession, the amount of passes and the amount of shots on goal.

There were initial fears that United would be roasted by the Blues at Stamford Bridge even after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s exit as confirmed by De Gea’s feeling while the Sunday Premier League cracker lasted.

After the match, De Gea said: “On the pitch, in the goal, I was feeling danger for nearly the whole game.

“We defended well, they missed big chances and the one they give us a chance we score. It is not enough to draw but at the moment it is a big point”

Photo Credit: ChelseaFC/Twitter