After initially looking like he would have a fully fit squad to face Manchester City, Ralf Rangnick now appears to have been dealt four hefty blows on the eve of the game.
A 21-man Manchester United squad gathered at The Lowry Hotel on Saturday evening ahead of the crucial Manchester derby on Sunday afternoon. However, Cristiano Ronaldo was not among them and neither were Edinson Cavani, Raphael Varane or Luke Shaw, which makes United significantly weaker ahead of facing their cross-town rivals.
In his pre-match press conference, Rangnick had revealed that Cavani had returned to training and could be involved after suffering a groin problem. However, this doesn't appear to be the case and he looks set to miss a sixth game in a row.
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"Yeah, he has been back in training since yesterday," he said. "Today was his second session. He looks good, so I think he could at least be part of the group for Sunday.
"There are two or three question marks behind some players we will have to wait and see what happens. Edinson as it stands now will be part of the group."
Those 'question marks' have been revealed to be Ronaldo, Varane and Shaw and they won't be available for the match. The injuries have likely changed Rangnick's plans for his starting XI and here's how he could line up without four important players.
4-3-3
Rangnick has settled on a 4-3-3 formation of late and that could very likely continue at the Etihad, however, Ronaldo won't be on hand to lead the line in attack. With Cavani also out, that responsibility will almost certainly fall to Marcus Rashford.
The England forward is in a dire rut of form and has only scored five goals all season but his pace could be very useful in behind a City defence that leaves plenty of space to be exploited. Even though the Blues defeated Peterborough in the FA Cup in midweek, the bottom Championship club worried them with their speedy strikers and proved they can be gotten at.
Alex Telles will have to start at left-back with Shaw out and Victor Lindelof in the middle alongside Harry Maguire.
3-4-1-2
The derby will be the first time that Rangnick will come up against a side that is guaranteed to have more possession than his side since he took charge at United; the first against a much better team.
So perhaps he may go with the back-three he has used on occasion to solidify his side towards the end of games, from the start this time around. This is made difficult by the fact that Varane is out, though, so his options for a third centre-back aren't wide-ranging.
Phil Jones played well in his first game for over two years against Wolves but hasn't had many minutes since, and Eric Bailly is back in a Premier League squad for the first time in over two months after returning from the African Cup of Nations with an ankle injury. The only other possible option is to see how Aaron Wan-Bissaka could play on the right side of a back-three, which does seem like it would suit his skillset, but it would be a massive risk to play him in an unfamiliar position for the first time against City.
As a result, it does seem unlikely that Rangnick will opt for a back three from the start, but the fact is it would allow the pacey duo of Rashford and Anthony Elanga to play up front together.
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