Manchester United will defend their 100 per cent record in the Premier League so far this season at Stoke City on Saturday evening.
The Red Devils have got off to a flying start to the new campaign and earned nine points of a possible nine from their opening three matches.
They will be tested at the Britannia Stadium, however, by a Stoke side that has already beaten Arsenal on home turf this season.
| Game | Stoke City vs Manchester United |
| Date | Saturday, September 9 |
| Time | 17:30 BST / 12:30 ET |
TV CHANNEL & LIVE STREAM
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In the UK, the match will be available to watch live on television on BT Sport 1 and by stream via the BT Sport app.
| UK TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| BT Sport 1 | BT Sport app |
In the US, the match will be available to watch live on television on NBC and by stream via NBC Sports Live.
| US TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| NBC | NBC Sports Live |
SQUADS & TEAM NEWS
| Position | Stoke City players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Butland, Haugaard, Grant |
| Defenders | Pieters, Johnson, Shawcross, Cameron, Edwards, Tymon, Zouma, Martins Indi, Wimmer, Souttar |
| Midfielders | Fletcher, Allen, Adam, Shaqiri, Sobhi, Diouf, Shenton |
| Forwards | Berahino, Crouch, Verlinden, Jese |
Darren Fletcher dropped out of Scotland's squad with a knee problem and is a doubt to face his former club, while Eric Choupo-Moting suffered a hamstring injury with Cameroon and looks set to miss out.
Stephen Ireland and Ibrahim Afellay both remain sidelined.
Potential starting XI: Butland; Zouma, Shawcross, Martins Indi; Diouf, Cameron, Allen, Pieters; Shaqiri, Crouch, Jese.
| Position | Man Utd players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | De Gea, Romero, J. Pereira |
| Defenders | Lindelof, Bailly, Jones, Smalling, Blind, Shaw, Valencia, Mitchell, Darmian, Tuanzebe |
| Midfielders | Pogba, Mata, Lingard, Carrick, Young, Herrera, Mkhitaryan, Fellaini, Matic |
| Forwards | Martial, Rashford, Lukaku |
Luke Shaw and Ashley Young have both stepped up their recoveries by featuring in Under-23 matches, but this game may come too soon for them.
Marcos Rojo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are not expected back until the end of the year.
Potential starting XI: De Gea; Valencia, Bailly, Jones, Blind; Pogba, Matic; Mata, Mkhitaryan, Rashford; Lukaku.
BETTING & MATCH ODDS
Man Utd are 1/2 favourites to win, according to dabblebet, with Stoke priced at 6/1 and the draw available at 16/5.
Click here to view dabblebet's full selection of match markets.
GAME PREVIEW
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The cliche goes that a league season is a marathon, not a sprint, but a quick start has been essential for Manchester United.
Psychologically, the Red Devils have set about establishing an aura of potential title winners and are already gathering a daunting head of steam.
They have quickly put to bed the problems they had in failing to turn control of games into goals and wins last season, with Romelu Lukaku swiftly getting off the mark.
And they have come through pre-season with most of their squad fit and firing, leaving their rivals to ponder the potential for them to get even better when Zlatan Ibrahimovic returns for the second half of the campaign.
It feels reminiscent of Jose Mourinho's last championship-winning team at Chelsea, who won 14 of their first 18 games and then had the best defence in the division sit on the lead they had established.
Mourinho will hope there is more longevity in this United team: the way the Blues ground results out after Christmas was shown the following season to have been out of necessity rather than design.
But with core players such as David de Gea, Paul Pogba and Lukaku still only approaching their prime years, this time his troops appear to be built for more sustainable success.
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