Stoke City vs. Manchester United, Live coverage: Rooney, Mata, RVP all start

Get licking your lips, Manchester United fans. That's because Wayne Rooney returns to the starting 11 alongside Juan Mata and Robin van Persie for this afternoon's game at Stoke City, forming what is, on paper, one of the finest attacking forces in the entire league.

Unfortunately the fun ends there, as Phil Jones is in at right-back at Rafael's expense -- the Brazilian is on the bench, so it looks like this is just a plain daft selection decision by David Moyes -- while Michael Carrick and Tom Cleverley will have us wincing in midfield. Still, at least they should be able to leave the attacking up to our excellent forwards.

Ashley Young has maintained his place over Adnan Januzaj or Danny Welbeck, though after his excellent display against Cardiff City, dropping him would've been harsh.

As ever, chat away in the match thread below.

Manchester United confirmed starting lineup: David De Gea; Patrice Evra, Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones; Tom Cleverley, Michael Carrick; Ashley Young, Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata; Robin van Persie.

Subs: Anders Lindegaard, Rafael da Silva, Antonio Valencia, Darren Fletcher, Adnan Januzaj, Javier Hernández, Danny Welbeck.

Stoke City confirmed starting lineup: Asmir Begović; Erik Pieters, Marc Wilson, Ryan Shawcross, Geoff Cameron; Jonathan Walters, Marko Arnautović, Charlie Adam, Glenn Whelan, Peter Odemwingie; Peter Crouch.