Five Manchester United players including one Undroppable star who will miss Man City clash due to injury
Manchester United to assess six injured players ahead of Man City fixture
Marcus Rashford has not played in over four weeks, while Anthony Martial has played 45 minutes in two months.
Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial could miss Manchester United’s derby against Manchester City this weekend.
Rashford and Martial did not practice earlier this week, and Martial has only played 45 minutes in two months owing to hamstring and Achilles ailments. Since August 25, the Frenchman has not participated in a full training session.
Rashford was injured in the 3-1 win over Arsenal on September 4 and has not trained in three weeks.
Both players were absent from United’s Europa League games against Real Sociedad and FC Sheriff, while Martial has not played for United since November.
At his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, United manager Erik ten Hag is scheduled to deliver updates on Rashford and Martial.
Ten Hag will have an additional training session on Saturday to allow any players who were experiencing challenges to demonstrate their fitness. England captain Harry Kane said Harry Maguire “played another five, ten minutes on nearly one leg” in Monday night’s 3-3 draw with Germany.
Maguire, if fit, is unlikely to start because he has been on the bench for five of United’s previous six games and has not started a league game since the 4-0 thumping at Brentford on August 13.
Raphael Varane was an unused replacement in France’s Nations League loss to Denmark on Sunday and has trained with United this week, while defensive partner Lisandro Martinez only played 12 minutes in Argentina’s midweek friendly win over Jamaica in New Jersey.
Donny van de Beek hasn’t trained with United this week and has been ruled out of the last three matchday squads due to an unidentified injury. Aaron Wan-Bissaka has been out for the last four games, and Martin Dubravka did not travel to Moldova for the win over Sheriff.
If Rashford is unavailable, Ten Hag may use the same lineup that defeated Sheriff in United’s previous game more than two weeks ago.
De Gea, Heaton, Dalot, Varane, Martinez, Maguire, Lindelof, Malacia, Shaw, McTominay, Eriksen, Casemiro, Fred, Iqbal, Fernandes, Antony, Elanga, Sancho, Garnacho, Ronaldo are possible starters vs City.
