Lisandro Martinez is back training with the Manchester United squad after his World Cup heroics and should make the starting XI for Saturday’s Premier League match against Wolves at Molyneux.
He is likely to resume his excellent partnership with Raphael Varane, who returned from his own Qatar odyssey earlier in the week and had a fine game against Nottingham Forest.
This would mean Luke Shaw will probably revert to left back, with Tyrell Malacia dropping to the bench.
Previously, boss Erik ten Hag has switched Malacia to right back in Diogo Dalot’s absence rather than trust Aaron Wan-Bissaka, but the England man has played very well against Burnley and Forest and has surely done enough to keep his place in the team if Dalot has not recovered in time.
If Martinez and Varane are back in the box seats, it remains to be seen what this means for Harry Maguire, who came back from the World Cup in a blaze of glory, having been named in the team of the tournament.
It is possible that the prospect of being a reserve for United so soon after that success will attract the attention of other clubs in need of defensive reinforcements.
Elsewhere, it is expected to be business as usual, with David de Gea in goal, Casemiro and Christian Eriksen in midfield, Bruno Fernandes in attacking midfield, Marcus Rashford and Antony on the wings and Anthony Martial up front.
One possible variation on this is Alejandro Garnacho for Antony. The Brazilian had a poor game against Forest and his head does not look to be in the right place at the moment.
By contract, the young Argentine looked fit and focussed.
However, Antony offers more balance as Rashford prefers to play on the left wing rather than the right. Also, Ten Hag will not want to put too much pressure on Garnacho too soon.
With all that in mind, here is our predicted starting XI for the 12.30pm kick off on Saturday:
Manchester United star named in BBC Team of the Week
Manchester United star Marcus Rashford has been named in the BBC Team of the Week.
Rashford, 25, scored one goal and provided an assist in Manchester United’s 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest.
This was the first week of Premier League action since the World Cup, with Manchester United returning to action with a comfortable victory.
Rashford took his tally up to 10 goals for the season, with Anthony Martial and Fred also on target.
Manchester United star named in BBC Team of the Week
BBC Sport pundit Garth Crooks named Rashford in his best Premier League XI from the post-Christmas action.
He described Rashford as clearly superior to Nottingham Forest that it was almost an unfair contest.
Crooks said: “I was a little reluctant to select Rashford because of this mismatch but the striker’s overall display was so compelling I thought better of it.”
It was somewhat bizarre that Rashford was the only Manchester United player named in Crooks’ team.
Casemiro was the best player on the pitch in Manchester United’s win and voted man of the match by supporters.
Crooks instead named Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard and Wolves’ Ruben Neves in his XI for their respective performances.
United take on Wolves up next at Molineux in the club’s final game of 2022.
Source: thepeoplesperson.com
