Erik ten Hag is weighing up whether to start with his new signing Wout Weghorst at Crystal Palace if Anthony Martial is ruled out.
But the Manchester United manager revealed that Martial had “begged” him to begin the Manchester derby, only for the Frenchman to come off after 45 minutes.
Weghorst joined United on loan from Burnley on Friday but was registered too late to be eligible for the win over Manchester City while Ten Hag has another striking option in Marcus Rashford, who began on the left wing on Saturday but scored the winner after moving infield.
Ten Hag could turn to his fellow Dutchman. “I have to think about that,” he said. “We will make a clear plan for Palace.”
Martial has been struggling with injury since the World Cup and Ten Hag explained: “We decided - and he decided as well - to start. He begged to start. I knew the start would be so important in this game and he is really good at pressing and he is a really big element in our pressing.
“But I needed to re-evaluate at half-time as you saw he was not capable to go 100 percent and this is what you need. And also to avoid him getting injured so we took him off but it also had a negative impact on our game after half-time.”
Ten Hag also praised Bruno Fernandes, who started on the right flank against City, scored United’s equaliser and showed his creativity with a series of incisive passes.
He said: “The idea with Bruno on the right wing and especially in defending we defended as usual but in possession he had a role to come in between the lines to bring an extra player there and bring the opponent problems and create hesitation and confusion. I thought he played that role brilliantly.
“The rest of the team adapted well to the situation and we had really good breaks by finding the free man. Bruno was an important factor in that role and important in the pressing as well. I didn’t know he was man of the match but he was my man of the match, definitely.”
