Manchester United take on Brentford for their final home match of the campaign at Old Trafford on Monday evening.
The Red Devils will be aiming to round-off their home campaign in a positive manner despite their Champions League hopes having been all-but ended ahead of the clash. Ralf Rangnick ’s men sit eight points off fourth-placed Arsenal and it will require a dramatic turnaround for United to secure a top-four place between now and the end of the campaign.
Heading into their clash with Brentford, there are a number of players set to be restricted to the sidelines. Jadon Sancho missed the 1-1 draw with Chelsea last time out with tonsillitis and is set to be restricted once more, with Rangnick suggesting that he could be out for the remainder of the campaign.
Elsewhere, Harry Maguire, Paul Pogba and Luke Shaw were all ruled out with long-term problems. The problems continued through the squad with Edinson Cavani, Aaron Wan-Bissaka all on the sidelines for the clash against the Blues.
Following the game, Rangnick gave an early update on the state of his squad, with some players set to return but others unlikely to appear again for the remainder of the campaign. Speaking in a press conference, he said: “Right now, I don’t know but I hope Fred will make it for the Brentford game. Tonight [against Chelsea ], was too early for him.
“As it seems, Jadon might be out for the rest of the season with his tonsillitis, so he will most likely be unavailable against Brentford. “Edinson Cavani is supposed to come back to training tomorrow [Friday] but then again, the question is he has been missing for the last four or five weeks, quite a long time, is he really a player who could then play against Brentford? Probably not to start with but at least from the bench.
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“Apart from that, we have to wait and see. Harry Maguire [also missed the game v Chelsea], Jesse was missing for personal, family reasons today. I hope that some of those players will be back on Monday.”
Usefully for the Red Devils though, Cavani and Fred have both been pictured boarding the United team bus ahead of the game., with youngsters Alejandro Garnacho and Alvaro Fernandez having also been included.
With all of those various problems, here is the Manchester United squad that Rangnick is likely to select from against Brentford:
Goalkeepers: David de Gea, Dean Henderson, Lee Grant, Tom Heaton
Defenders: Raphael Varane, Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Eric Bailly, Phil Jones, Alex Telles, Diogo Dalot, Alvaro Fernandez
Midfielders: Scott McTominay, Nemanja Matic, Fred, Bruno Fernandes, Hannibal Mejri, Juan Mata
Forwards: Marcus Rashford, Anthony Elanga, Shola Shoretire, Cristiano Ronaldo, Jesse Lingard, Edinson Cavani, Alejandro Garnacho
