Erik ten Hag's new Manchester United undroppable is about to give him a selection headache

With first-choice centre-backs Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane out through injury, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has turned to left-back Luke Shaw to play in the centre over the past couple of weeks.

Shaw has been paired with Victor Lindelof at centre-back in all of United's last three outings, including the FA Cup semi-final win over Brighton.

Club captain Harry Maguire has not featured since United's disastrous night in Seville, and so Shaw's quality performances have come at the perfect time for Ten Hag. The former Southampton man has performed well when playing on the left side of a back-three for United and England, but playing in a two is a very different proposition.

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Faced with a Brighton side who like to play fluid, possession-based football, Shaw was a key part of United’s impressive defensive effort as they made it through to the FA Cup final at Wembley. He was the standout player in the 2-2 draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium a few days later and put in a robust performance in the gritty 1-0 win over Aston Villa, who had scored in all of their previous league games under Unai Emery.

Hailed as a player who has “showed a lot of leadership capacities” by Ten Hag after a previous spell of playing at centre-back in January, it is not necessarily surprising that he has been a revelation in the role. The way Ten Hag sets his team up means ability on the ball, anticipation and speed are the characteristics he looks for in centre-backs.

These are precisely Shaw’s strengths. On Sunday, both Shaw's and Lindelof’s impressive range of passing was crucial to Ten Hag’s gameplan as they looked to play balls over the top of Villa’s