MANCHESTER UNITED travel to Anfield on Tuesday night for a mouthwatering Premier League clash against long-time rivals Liverpool. The Red Devils‘ interim boss Ralf Rangnick would have been concerned when he received the news that Bruno Fernandes had crashed his car on the way to the training ground on Monday morning. But fortunately the Portuguese […]
MANCHESTER UNITED travel to Anfield on Tuesday night for a mouthwatering Premier League clash against long-time rivals Liverpool.
The Red Devils‘ interim boss Ralf Rangnick would have been concerned when he received the news that Bruno Fernandes had crashed his car on the way to the training ground on Monday morning.
But fortunately the Portuguese star emerged from the collision unscathed and made his way to Carrington in the passenger seat of Juan Mata’s vehicle.
And Fernandes has since been cleared to start against Liverpool as the look to follow up their 3-2 victory over Norwich at the weekend.
Speaking on Monday, Rangnick said: “The accident happened on the way to Carrington. But as far as I know, nobody was injured. He trained with the team and he was okay, and that’s why I think he will also be ok for tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo will be hoping he can build on his crucial hat-trick against Norwich as he looks to help his side avoid a repeat of the 5-0 thumping they suffered at the hands of Jurgen Klopp’s men earlier this season.
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But Rangnick does still have a number of injuries to contend with heading into this crunch clash.
He confirmed in his pre-match press conference that Raphael Varane, Luke Shaw, Fred, Scott McTominay and Edinson Cavani all remain unavailable.
“Rapha [Varane] didn’t train with the team. He was on the pitch with one of our rehab coaches,” the 63-year-old German coach added.
“But with regards to injured players, we have the same situation that we had in the last two games.”
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Rangnick is expected to start with the same back five that he fielded against Norwich in David de Gea, Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and Alex Telles – although there is a chance Aaron Wan-Bissaka could be preferred at right-back.
They set up in a 4-3-3 formation against the Canaries, with a midfield three of Fernandes, Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard.
But for the game on Tuesday, Rangnick will almost certainly want to put a little bit more protection in front of the defence.
That could mean either bringing Nemanja Matic in for Lingard and pushing Pogba into a No8 role or playing Matic and Pogba as a double pivot in front of the back four.
Then in the attacking areas Ronaldo will undoubtedly lead the line and is expected to be joined on the flanks by Jadon Sancho and Anthony Elanga.
Alternatively Marcus Rashford will be hoping he can force his way into the team, so he could be a surprise inclusion ahead of Sancho.
