Rijo Sam Daniel
Team News: Players available for Manchester United and Newcastle United ahead of Premier League clash
According to the official website of Manchester United, Ralf Rangnick has given crucial team news ahead of their Premier League game against Newcastle United on Monday. It would be the first match Man United will play in since a Covid-19 outbreak in their camp.
Newcastle United are suffering from several injury issues with players like Federico Fernandez, Jamal Lewis, Jonjo Shelvey and Paul Dummett likely to be out for their next game. Isaac Hayden will be on the stands, having picked up a suspension, whereas Javier Manquillo and Emil Krafth have returned to the squad.
Speaking in the pre-match press conference (h/t Manchester United official website), Ralf Rangnick revealed that he has the full squad available for selection except for Paul Pogba, who is in the recovery process, having picked up an injury during the international break.
“Yes, as you know, we had last week, the last training session on Thursday, on that day we had eight outfield players and three goalkeepers and then we closed down the training ground for four days in order to break the chain. Today was the third day of training this week, we started on Tuesday, we trained yesterday and today. Today we had 25 outfield players. Paul Pogba is the only one missing, everyone else was on board. The development in the last week was extremely positive.”
Finally!
Rangnick has had it tough since taking the managerial job, and the virus breakout further slowed down the process of instilling his identity into the team. There is still some time till Monday, which means that he could focus on the improvements he wants in the current team.
This selection boost would also ensure that those who have been affected by the interruption would have ample time to regain their fitness. Not to mention, the availability of the full squad sans Pogba could not come at a perfect time as we are set to enter the festive period.
We would need to utilize the entire squad to overcome the congested fixtures by managing their minutes as and when needed. Since Pogba is the only player who is out of contention, we could see the return of Raphael Varane, Edinson Cavani, Anthony Martial and Aaron Wan-Bissaka against the Magpies.
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Varane endured hamstring problems, whereas Cavani was suffering from an injury issue of his own. Martial and Wan-Bissaka were not available against Norwich City through their respective injuries. Whether they would slowly be integrated into the team or could feature from the start remains to be seen on Monday.
This could well be the first time we get an idea about Rangnick’s strongest possible XI and the players he favours as starters. Paul Pogba, of course, will be a miss, but we have learnt to live without him in recent times.
