Erik ten Hag might know nine Manchester United starters vs Brighton after Aston Villa draw

United will land back in Manchester today after a pre-season tour that proved as productive as possible for Erik ten Hag, even if the final 45 minutes revealed some of the frailties he has inherited.

The majority of the tour has given Ten Hag a clear indication of his team for the opening day of the Premier League season, but having raced into a 2-0 lead against Aston Villa in Perth, they produced a disappointing second half and were eventually pegged back in injury time.

After two weeks of positivity that may be excusable. Conditions were awful and the pitch was boggy, bordering on dangerous at times. It's no surprise United took their foot off the gas and started to look forward to the long flight home.

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Now the real business begins two weeks today but after four games in pre-season United's strongest side under Ten Hag is already starting to take shape.

His pre-season strategy has been clear from the second game, when he picked another strong side, and it has continued throughout the four fixtures against Liverpool, Melbourne Victory, Crystal Palace and now Aston Villa.

There have been eight changes in four games but six of them have been either been enforced due to injuries or have been players returning from knocks to come back into the side.

The only changes that hint at any conjecture about what Ten Hag sees as his strongest team was Anthony Elanga coming in for Marcus Rashford against Melbourne Victory and then Tyrell Malacia replacing Luke Shaw against Crystal Palace. Neither Elanga nor Malacia kept their place.

The quality of the performances in those four games have given merit to Ten Hag's decision to prioritise building a team that is ready to face