Man United laboured past minnows Norwich City to pick up a 3-2 win and next up, they will take on Liverpool in a midweek Premier League tie.
Norwich are the 20th placed side on the league table but even they managed to score two goals past Manchester United so we can only imagine what Liverpool can do to them.
At one point, Liverpool vs Man United was the pinnacle of English football but these days, United have somewhat turned into the underdogs. The last time these two sides met, Liverpool won 5-0 at Old Trafford.
There’s every chance we can see a repeat of this scoreline in midweek, especially since Ralf Rangnick has so many injuries to deal with. There’s no way the interim boss will be able to name his strongest side on Tuesday night and even a draw in this away tie will be a job well done for Man United.
United take on Arsenal after this midweek fixture and since that tie can have a big say in the top-four race, the Red Devils will need to stay in the hunt up until that point.
Man United team news for the Liverpool game:
Raphael Varane and Luke Shaw are both sidelined with injuries and the manager has confirmed that Shaw will be out for a few weeks after he had some screws removed from his leg.
We made today difficult but managed to get over the line. Let's stick together to the end.🔴 pic.twitter.com/40o9vHZN8p
— David de Gea (@D_DeGea) April 16, 2022
Varane though could be in line to make a comeback against Liverpool, as hinted by his manager last week.
Rangnick had said: “He’s the one who can hopefully can back for at least one of the next two games against Liverpool or Arsenal. With the others, I don’t see them coming back within the next couple of days.”
The latest buzz is that Varane will only be back next weekend for the Arsenal game so the Man United boss will once again have to put his faith in the partnership of Maguire and Lindelof.
If Varane’s injury was not enough then Fred and McTominay are also on the sidelines and both these midfielders are ruled out for the Liverpool game.
Jesse Lingard and Paul Pogba paired up in central midfield for the Norwich game and both of them had a pretty decent outing. Some pundits have advised Rangnick to use this same duo against Liverpool as well but we think the German will bring in the more experienced Nemanja Matic.
Lingard has hardly gotten any game time this season so it will be a major disaster throwing him into a midfield vs the likes of Fabinho and Thiago.
Ralf Rangnick put faith on Anthony Elanga over Marcus Rashford on Saturday and the youngster had a very good outing in that match so there’s a big chance that Rashford will be on the bench in midweek as well.
Rashford has looked completely out of sorts this season so it will be much more sensible to use a confident youngster in the first XI instead of betting on flops.
Let’s keep pushing and believing until the end💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/5yUNARDBXC
— Bruno Fernandes (@B_Fernandes8) April 16, 2022
Man United injury list:
Raphael Varane – Late Fitness Test – Not likely to be fit in time.
Luke Shaw – Ruled out.
Scott McTominay – Ruled out.
Fred – Ruled out.
Edinson Cavani – Ruled out.
