45 min: Two minutes added.

42 min: “What’s the opposite to commentators’ curse?” emails Philip Cornwall. “As a professional broadcaster, Gary Neville will surely take great pride in saying: ‘If you are Leeds United, you’ve got to try to capitalise on this right now and get two in front,’ finishing at 28min 34sec, with the ball hitting the net at 28min 37sec.”

40 min: Not sure who has got the highest vertical jump in the Premier League but Sesko and Calvert-Lewin must be among the strongest leapers. The latter rises like a salmon at the back post but can’t quite reach Bogle’s dangerous dinked cross. Both Yoro and Mazraoui left Calvert-Lewin completely unmarked.

“Never mind this United confusion, just call the team in red Anonymous and we’ll know who you mean tonight,” emails Justin Kavanagh.

38 min: Justin flies into Cunha, leaving his mark on the Brazilian. Ooooosh.

36 min: Cunha comes to life, springing into that inside left channel and firing a zinging shot just over the bar. Darlow was scrambling to get anything to that and looked relieved to see it rise above his crossbar.

34 min: Carrick has not yet been in this position in the Premier League. He has won every home game since being appointed. But this has been a dreadful performance so far and Manchester United are nearly halfway to a dreadful result. Old Trafford is tense, with groans and jeers to every mistake. Carrick will surely change things at half time. Lacey, Mbeumo, Mount, Zirkzee are all waiting on the bench.

32 min: Leeds United again break on the counter-attack after winning the second ball in midfield. Calvert-Lewin flies down the right and his cross-shot is well cleared by Mazraoui at the back post. Aaronson was lurking at the back post to make it three. Good defending.

30 min: Leeds United are 2-0 up at Old Trafford and it’s fair to say that the away fans are loving life. There is only one team in this at present.

26 min: Okafor is absolutely roasting Mazraoui on Leeds United left wing and the Swiss cuts inside and plays in Bogle with a lovely square pass. Bogle cuts the ball back to Calvert-Lewin, who backheels towards goal, blocked by Martinez! It’s pinball in the box, as Manchester United desperately get it away.

24 min: I’m getting some heat for my attempts to please both the home and away fans with what we call the teams in tonight games (and on reflection, I think the heat is justified), so I’ll just go for the full names: Manchester United and Leeds United. Nobody can have an issue with that, surely?

22 min: Leeds corner, whipped to the penalty spot where big ol’ Bijol heads over.

20 min: Calvert-Lewin is dominating Yoro and Martínez under the high ball. Leeds have an easy get-out ball to their big striker.

18 min: Cunha booked for diving, which replays show is the correct decision. Not a good look, that.

17 min: Diallo releases Sesko with an excellent through ball and the Manchester striker has just Bijol between himself and goal. But the Slovenian stumbles as he enters the box and clumsily toes the ball towards goal. Needed a bit more composure there. Sesko seems to be an instinctive striker – his finish to score against West Ham was absolutely ridiculous – and I think he’s a better striker when he doesn’t have too much time to think about things.

15 min: Prior to this game, I was going to say how impressed I have been by Yoro in these past few months. And then Calvert-Lewin bullied the young Frenchman in the lead up to Leeds’ opener … ah. Only 20-year-old, though, remember. There’s a fine player in there.

13 min: Manchester look rusty. Fernandes has not found any space in that midfield. Tanaka and Ampadu are like two terriers for Leeds in there.

11 min: A first shot on goal for Manchester, with Diallo breaking the offside trap to reach a Casemiro through ball. The Ivorian checks his run, cuts inside and arrows a shot towards the far corner, but Darlow reads it well and gets down to his right to smother.

9 min: It’s been a relentless start but there’s a brief break in play while VAR checks a challenge made by Bogle on Casemiro. Replays show that Bogle slightly followed through but there is no further punishment.

7 min: It’s all Leeds, in and out of possession, relentlessly pressing. Manchester try to play their way out of defence but are lucky not to concede again with Lammens hacking a clearance almost off his goalline.

2 min: Sloppy from Ugarte, who gives the ball away at the first opportunity. A heavy touch and the Manchester midfielder has his pocket picked. Groans.

The teams are out. It’s a fine atmosphere at Old Trafford. Manchester co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is in the house. Let’s do this.

Michael Carrick, Manchester manager, has also been speaking to Sky Sports, explaining his team selection and Mainoo’s injury:

Over the last day or so, Kobbie just had an issue in training. So it seems small but big enough to keep him out tonight. It wasn’t worth the risk, to be honest, so we’re hoping it’s pretty small and it won’t be too long.

Manu [Ugarte] comes in tonight. He came on and did well for us in the last game at Bournemouth and went away and played well for Uruguay so he’s well up to speed.

He’s been great in training and done great all the way through really and part of what we’ve done, even though it’s not obvious because Kobbie and Case[miro] have played a lot. So yeah, comes in tonight, big opportunity for him to show himself and we deal with Kobbie being out.”

Both teams now are obviously ‘United’, so for the remainder of this liveblog I will refer to Manchester United as Manchester, and Leeds United as Leeds. Hope that pleases everyone (I’m sure it won’t).

Leeds manager Daniel Farke speaks:

We picked up some injuries but I believe in the boys. We have scored many goals and we need to continue with this. If we win the game, we can speak about [potentially going six points clear] but we need to stay humble. We have to show quality in both boxes. If we win the points, we can celebrate after.

Mixed news for Farke and Leeds. Anton Stach and Joe Rodon were injured in the team’s FA Cup tie at West Ham last weekend, but Gabi Gudmundsson (groin), Jaka Bijol (knock) and Noah Okafor (back) have all beaten fitness tests to take their place in the starting XI tonight. This is an attacking line-up from the visitors, make no mistake.

If you are wondering where Kobbie Mainoo is, he’s injured, which means Ugarte comes in for a rare start. The Uruguayan, a €50m purchase in 2024, has been linked with a move away this summer, with Newcastle a potential destination.

Harry Maguire is suspended, so Martínez gets the nod.

Mainoo, meanwhile …

What a difference a few months make. The midfielder was an outcast under Amorim. Speaking of the Portuguese, the reverse fixture of tonight’s game in January proved to be Amorim’s final game in charge of Manchester United.