The Brighton team that will line up against United will feature its own formidable No. For years the onus in attack had shifted to the use of inverted, goalscoring wingers like Gareth Bale and Mohamed Salah and false nines but now Ferdinand sees a Premier League increasingly populated with towering centre-forwards and feels it is all the better for it.

9 is as welcome as he believes it was “overdue”. 9 that was very much in vogue in the 1990s, and still prevalent into the mid-noughties.įor Les Ferdinand, a powerhouse centre-forward for Queens Park Rangers, Newcastle, Spurs and England in his 90s pomp, the return of the No. Only time will tell if Hojlund is the real deal but the strapping 6ft 3in striker’s arrival on these shores is the latest example of the Premier League’s marked shift back towards the use of a big, uncompromising No. He underlined the neat touch he has for a big man with a lovely flick in the build-up to Alejandro Garnacho’s disallowed goal. The pressure on the Denmark striker to deliver for United - and deliver quickly - is obvious, all the more so given that the club opted against recruiting a second, more experienced and proven centre-forward to lighten the load.īut they were encouraging beginnings for the 20-year-old, whose power, strength, pace, hunger and height suddenly asked very different questions of the Arsenal defence. To date, Hojlund’s United career amounts to just 23 minutes off the bench against Arsenal almost a fortnight ago, a back injury having prevented Ten Hag from using his new £72 million signing from Atalanta in the first three games against Wolves, Spurs and Nottingham Forest.īut one of the few positives from that 3-1 defeat at the Emirates Stadium was the sharp uplift derived from Hojlund’s introduction for the listless Anthony Martial midway through the second half. Rasmus Hojlund, as seems likely, is set for his home debut and first start for the club against Brighton at Old Trafford on Saturday in what will be some cause for cheer among the United faithful. Not that it is all doom and gloom in attack. Manchester United’s attackers have been causing plenty of headaches of late - but for their own manager, rather than opposition defences.įrom the assault allegations that surround Antony, all of which he denies, to Jadon Sancho’s very public fall-out with Erik ten Hag and the enduring struggles to get a tune out of the fitful Antony Martial, United’s manager has been wrestling with problem after problem up front.

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