Man United welcome Liverpool in the quarter-final of the FA Cup this weekend and Rasmus Hojlund along with Harry Maguire are back in contention for this high-profile match.
Rasmus Hojlund suffered a muscle injury in February which forced him to miss three games for Manchester United while Harry Maguire picked up a minor knock in the Fulham game late last month and he has been out since.
Now, in a huge selection boost Hojlund, Maguire and also Aaron Wan-Bissaka have all trained properly this week and all three will be included in the matchday squad on Sunday.
“We had a good week,” Ten Hag told the press. “All the players you mentioned [Maguire, Wan-Bissaka and Hojlund], they returned on the pitch. Partly in the start of the week and, today, we had a session that they were all training.
“I think [they’re going to be available]. We have, tomorrow, one session. We have to see how they recover from this tomorrow. But it looks good.”
Wan-Bissaka is not going to find a place in the starting line up because Diogo Dalot has done very well at right-back but Maguire and Rasmus Hojlund will most definitely start.
Maguire’s return has come at the perfect time because Jonny Evans has picked up a small knock so he is going to miss out on Sunday while Shaw and Malacia’s absence means Lindelof will have to play at left-back. A Maguire and Varane pairing in central defence will not ooze too much confidence against this in-form Liverpool attacking line up but Ten Hag has been really unlucky with defensive injuries and the manager has hardly gotten a chance to play his favoured back line this season.
Rasmus Hojlund had scored eight goals in as many games just before picking up an injury and now that he is back, United can finally afford to play an offensive brand of football.
Man United will be absolutely hammered by their fans if they decide to play counter-attacking football at Old Trafford but truth be told, without the hold-up play of Hojlund, Ten Hag could not ask his team to play on the front foot. Also, without the Danish international, United have found it really hard to score goals and his return should help change things.
Obviously, one player’s return isn’t going to solve all of Man United’s problems but with Hojlund back in the fold, players like Garnacho and Bruno will at least have a target inside the Liverpool box.
