Clinton wins PFA Young Player of the Year

Grace Clinton has been named the PFA Young Player of the Year in the WSL.

The 21-year-old midfielder spent last season on loan at Tottenham, and performed consistently well for the north Londoners.

She scored four times for Spurs, and notched the same number of assists, as they reached the Adobe Women’s FA Cup final, only to lose 4-0 to the Reds on the big day. Of course, Grace was ineligible to face her parent club at Wembley.

Grace Clinton is the PFA Young Player of the Year.

— Professional Footballers’ Association

Clinton beat off competition from the likes of United defender Maya Le Tissier and formed Red Lauren James, now with Chelsea, to lift the trophy.

After making her England debut against Austria in February, her progress has been continuing with plenty more sure to come.

“To go to Tottenham and get confidence was just amazing,” she said. “And to improve obviously personally.

“The aim is always to win trophies with Manchester United.”

Congratulations, Grace, from everyone at the club!

Cracking EFL Trophy opener for young Reds

Manchester United’s Under-21s produced an extraordinary second-half goal blitz to win 3-2 at Barnsley in the opening fixture of Group F in the EFL Trophy.

Three goals inside six minutes, sparked by Ethan Ennis and inspired by Jack Fletcher’s double, turned the tie completely on its head.

The Tykes led through a first-half double from Vigal Yoganathan and looked set for the three points until Travis Binnion’s side, spurred on by the typically noisy away supporters, hit top gear at Oakwell.

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Yoganathan scored with 11 minutes on the clock, from Kryan Lofthouse’s pass, and the pair combined again for the Welshman to beat Tom Heaton for a second time as half-time approached.

Ethan Wheatley and Ennis had decent attempts for the Reds but Heaton had to make one top save to thwart Josh Benson.

As the clock ticked down, Ennis gave United hope with a clinical first-time finish. It was soon 2-2 as Jack Fletcher hooked an astounding long-range shot that looped into the net to prompt celebrations in front of the away end. The midfielder was not finished there, though, as he smashed home following a throw-in to make it 3-2.

Corey O’Keeffe was sent off for an off-the-ball incident in injury time as United started with a fine win, that will be long remembered by the youngsters involved,

MATCH DETAILS

United starting XI: Heaton; Ogunneye, Jackson, Fredricson, Amass; Collyer (c), Devaney; Curley, Mather, Ennis; Wheatley.

Substitutes: Harrison, Aljofree, Nolan, J.Fletcher, Biancheri, Sharpe, Williams.

Goals: Yoganathan 11,37 | Ennis 81, J. Fletcher 84,87

Sent off: O’Keeffe 92.

Mazraoui in FPL Team of the Week

While Joshua Zirkzee stole the headlines with his matchwinning impact off the bench against Fulham on Friday, Noussair Mazraoui was another debutant who impressed during his first outing in the red shirt.

Indeed, while our went to goalscorer Zirkzee, the top scorer in the popular Fantasy Premier League game on the night was Mazraoui, who looked very accomplished at right-back before being withdrawn for another debutant in Matthijs de Ligt, with nine minutes of normal time remaining.

With all of the first round of top-flight matches completed by Leicester City’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham on Monday night, the opening Team of the Week of the season includes our Morocco international, as part of a three-man defence.

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The three bonus points for Mazaraoui helped him amass eight in total, as he also helped keep a clean sheet on his maiden appearance.

Pedro Porro, the Spurs scorer at the King Power Stadium, and Brighton & Hove Albion’s Joel Veltman, who is likely to face us in our next assignment on Saturday, complete the backline in front of keeper Nick Pope of Newcastle United.

Mohamed Salah was the highest scorer across gameweek one and he is joined by Arsenal duo Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz, plus Manchester City’s Mateo Kovacic, Newcastle’s matchwinner Joelinton and Brentford forward Yoane Wisa in the line-up.

Ex-Red Danny Welbeck is the final member of the XI, again we look forward to meeting up with him on the south coast this weekend.

After one game each, Saturday’s opponents Brighton lead the way in the fledgling table following their convincing 3-0 victory at Everton.

Last season’s top four all made winning starts – Manchester City won 2-0 at Chelsea, while Arsenal beat Wolves and Liverpool overcame Ipswich Town by the same scoreline. Aston Villa triumphed 2-1 away to West Ham United.

Brentford (2-1 in the London derby with Crystal Palace) and 10-man Newcastle United, 1-0 at home to Southampton, also picked up three points.

Aside from the aforementioned 1-1 between Leicester and Spurs, the only other draw came at Nottingham Forest, where the spoils were shared with Bournemouth due to another 1-1 result.

A combative debut

FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM OF THE WEEK

Nick Pope (Newcastle)
Pedro Porro (Tottenham)
Joel Veltman (Brighton)
NOUSSAIR MAZRAOUI (UNITED)
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
Mateo Kovacic (Manchester City)
Joelinton (Newcastle)
Danny Welbeck (Brighton)
Kai Havertz (Arsenal)
Yoane Wissa (Brentford)

PLAY FANTASY UNITED

Our United-specific fantasy football game is new for the 2024/25 season and, like in Fantasy Premier League, you can score points based on the real-life actions of your selected Reds.

For every competitive men’s match this season, pick a five-man line-up from your assembled digital Player Trading Cards – representing every member of Erik ten Hag’s squad – to compete for the ultimate bragging rights with friends, fellow fans and club legends.

For more information, be sure to check out our guide to Fantasy United ahead of this weekend’s game against Brighton!