Erik ten Hag explains why Cristiano Ronaldo starts on bench for Manchester United vs Tottenham

Erik ten Hag has explained why Cristiano Ronaldo has been named on the bench for Manchester United's match against Tottenham.

Ronaldo started against Newcastle at Old Trafford at the weekend, which was just his second start in the Premier League this season, but he was brought off in the latter stages of the match and he's now lost his starting place for the visit of Spurs.

With the exception of naming Ronaldo on the bench and starting Marcus Rashford at centre-forward, Ten Hag has named an unchanged side from the Newcastle draw to play Tottenham, with Antony and Jadon Sancho starting on the wings.

Christian Eriksen returned to training on Tuesday and he was fit enough to make the bench for Tottenham, but the main team selection talking point was the decision to bench Ronaldo and Ten Hag was asked about that ahead of kick-off.

Ten Hag praised what Rashford brings to the team as a striker and he suggested that Ronaldo could feature from the bench.

"Marcus [Rashford] was ill at the weekend, he was not available for 90 minutes," Ten Hag told MUTV. "Otherwise, he would have started on Sunday. You saw at the moment Marcus came in, we were getting more dynamic in front.

"That's what we need today, to break the lines, but also to build up this game and in the end, we know we have a threat from the bench with Cristiano [Ronaldo] to finish the game. He [Eriksen] was ill as well at the weekend.

"He came back yesterday. He doesn't feel like he has the energy for 90 minutes and so he will be on the bench as well, but he can play a couple of minutes and hopefully we can bring him on, to make an impact in the game, or it's better if we don't need him."

"We have to be good in possession, we need the X-factor in the final third and defending transitions will be key."