With Marcus Rashford on the sidelines, for what will be an extended period of time, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag handed Anthony Martial his first start since Jan. 14 tonight.
The Red Devils had to settle for a draw against Sevilla, in Europa League competition. Martial, who has missed out on 32 of 50 matches this season through injury, came off in the 62′ and was substituted by Wout Weghorst.
Manchester United at Nottingham Forest FYIs
Kickoff: Sun April 16, 4:30 pm, City Ground
Transatlantic Passage: How the Premier League Redefined Soccer in America: LINK
United Team News: Go here
PL Form: United WWLDW Nottingham Forest LLDLL
PL Standing: United 4th 56 pts Nottingham Forest 18th 27 pts
Google Result Probability: United 59% Draw 23% Nottingham Forest 18%
It appears, at least now that Martial is ahead of Weghorst in the pecking order.
“I think he is ready to start a game but the front line against Brentford did really well and we decided to continue with that against Everton and they did again really well,” said Ten Hag in the pre-match presser leading into Sevilla.
“The advantage is we can bring Anthony Martial slow back, give him minutes, get him used to high intensity, but against Everton he was ready to start again.
“The stats tell you the moment he is on the pitch the time he needs for a goal is really less and when he is in the team — I refer to games against Manchester City and Liverpool — we play our best football and have our best results as a team.”
Attack has certainly been a substantial issue for United this season, but right now, they have a new crisis, in central defense.
As embarrassing as seeing a 2-0 advantage end in a 2-2 stalemate is, the bigger problem tonight was losing their first choice central defense pairing (Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez) to injury.
They will almost certainly not feature against Nottingham Forest on Sunday. Let’s look at who will.
Manchester United Starting XI Prediction at Nottingham Forest
De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Malacia, Casemiro, Sabitzer, Fernandes, Antony, Martial, Sancho
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager 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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