Erik ten Hag will cross his fingers that Marcus Rashford can recover from a knock to take his place in Manchester United’s starting line-up against Manchester City on Sunday.
With Anthony Martial already ruled out and Cristiano Ronaldo struggling to regain his form, Rashford’s presence is even more urgent for United.
However, he has yet to be reported to have been seen in training and as time goes on it seems less and less likely that he will play.
Ten Hag is also not the type of manager who will pressure a player to play when he is not fully fit, so we expect him to be the bench at best for the 24-year-old.
This leaves Ten Hag with two options, replace him with Cristiano Ronaldo or play a false nine. In the two Europa League games against Sheriff Tiraspol and Real Sociedad he has opted for the former, but the 37-year-old’s form has been disappointing.
His performances for Portugal this week have also been poor.
Also keep in mind that this time United will not be facing Moldovan minnows, it is the Manchester derby. A more defensive lineup might be needed.
If Rashford fails, therefore, we expect Ten Hag to select Casemiro for his first Premier League start and play a false nine, probably Bruno Fernandes.
The defense is unlikely to change, with David de Gea in goal and a back line of Diogo Dalot, Raphael Varane, Lisandro MartÃnez and Tyrell Malacia.
This is most likely given that Harry Maguire was injured while on duty in England and Victor Lindelof did not perform well for Sweden.
Casemiro would then partner Christian Eriksen in defensive midfield, with Scott McTominay behind the ball out of possession and making runs forward when United have the ball. Fred is another option, but Donny van de Beek is also struggling to stay in shape and it is very unlikely that he will be selected.
Antony is expected to play on the right flank and Jadon Sancho on the left, with a certain amount of rotation with Fernandes on the false 9.
With all that in mind, here’s our planned line-up for Sunday’s 2pm kick-off at the Etihad:
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