Aheed Abrar
Diogo Dalot “not available” and Anthony Martial a doubt for Manchester United vs Manchester City
Manchester United full-back Diogo Dalot will be unavailable, while Anthony Martial is a doubt for the game against Manchester City.
The Red Devils will take on Pep Guardiola’s team on Saturday (14 January) at home in the Premier League. However, the Old Trafford side will not be able to count on a key player in the Portugal international.
Speaking to the media via Manchester Evening News ahead of the derby, Ten Hag revealed that United would be without their first-choice right-back. On the other hand, Martial’s availability is not clear at the moment.
“Diogo Dalot is not available and Anthony Martial trained this morning, so we have to wait how he recovered from his training and that will be decided tomorrow. It is a small thing in his leg so it will be better tomorrow or he will be available for Wednesday.”
The former AS Monaco star has found his feet under Erik ten Hag. In the previous campaign, the France international was underwhelming and spent half the season on loan at Sevilla.
Unfortunately, the Dutch manager has not been able to count on Martial a lot due to his injury issues. Thankfully, Marcus Rashford has been good this term as a number nine. However, in the games the 27-year-old has featured in, he has made an impact.
In the reverse fixture against City in October last year, the French national came on as a substitute in the second half. He grabbed a brace in the final minutes of the match as we lost 6-3.
As for Dalot, it will evidently be a big bow for us, considering his performances this season. The 23-year-old has started in a majority of the fixtures for United in the current campaign.
Thankfully, Aaron Wan-Bissaka has deputised for the Portuguese to good effect in recent weeks. The former Crystal Palace star did not play much before the 2022 World Cup, but since the restart, his displays have been encouraging.
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Guardiola’s team are not in the best of forms coming into the derby, losing in the Carabao Cup against Southampton. On the contrary, the Red Devils are on an eight-game winning run. Hopefully, we can extend that streak against the Sky Blues and close the gap at the top of the table.
