It’s a very injury-riddled Manchester Derby set to transpire on Sunday. United could be without the services of up to seven players while City could be sans as many as five, so that gives us a dozen combined. There is some good news with United though- Kobbie Mainoo could be in contention to feature off the bench here.
“I think Kobbie is returning to training, so we’ll see and assess for this game,” manager Ruben Amorim said earlier today.
Manchester Derby FYIs
Kickoff: Sun April 6, 4:30pm, Old Trafford, Manchester, UK
Team News for Both Sides: go here
Starting XI Predictions: United City
Premier League Standing: Manchester City 5th, 51 pts, Manchester United 13th, 37 points
Google Probability: Manchester City win 45% Draw 26% Manchester United win 29%
Manchester Derby Team News
“Of course, he cannot play a full game. He’s a long time without training.”
Mainoo is just working on building up match fitness. Amorim also gave an update on Matthijs de Ligt, who apparently as an unspecified knock of some sort.
“I think Matta has an issue,” Amorim said on Friday, in regards to the Dutch central defender who was acquired this summer.
“He has something during the game [at Forest] and we have to assess.”
Also, Monday saw Amorim provide three injury recovery updates, although all of them were painfully vague.
Luke Shaw is not ready yet (Shocking! Luke Shaw is out injured and his return timetable is once again delayed! NO WAY?!!!), Jonny Evans is recovering but Amorim said nothing more and Ayden Heaven is not shut down for the season.
Turning to City, there are no new changes/updates here- Erling Haaland, Rodri, John Stones, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji all remain out as longer-term injury absentees.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
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