Manchester United team news casts doubt on Alejandro Garnacho role vs Brentford

Alejandro Garnacho, Hannibal Mejbri, Shola Shoretire and Alvaro Fernandez all start for Manchester United's U23 side on Sunday afternoon, having all been named in the first-team squad to face Chelsea on Thursday night.

The teenage quartet all started on the bench when United drew 1-1 at Old Trafford in the week as Cristiano Ronaldo scored to cancel out Marcos Alonso's opening effort.

Garnacho, 17, was the only one of the teenagers to get on the pitch, making his senior debut for the club when he replaced fellow academy graduate Anthony Elanga with 15 minutes remaining.

United fans had hoped to see some of the youngsters start for the first-team when they host Brentford in the Premier League on Monday night, but it seems unlikely any of them will get a go from the start at Old Trafford just 30 hours later.

Instead, they will all start for Neil Wood's side at the weekend as they face Liverpool away from home in their final fixture of the Premier League 2 season.

There is still a chance a few of the teenagers might make the squad to face Brentford on Monday night after Ralf Rangnick warned he does not intend to 'gift' players farewells in what is expected to be the last possible chance for out-of-contract trio Juan Mata, Nemanja Matic and Jesse Lingard to appear at Old Trafford for the club.

Matic has started in the last three games and is expected to keep his place due to a shortage of central midfielders but Mata has not started in the Premier League since the final day of last season. Jesse Lingard started against Norwich earlier this month but had to withdraw from the Chelsea squad due to personal family reasons.

"I would like to but it is also about getting the best possible result and the best possible performance,"