Erik ten Hag has confirmed Casemiro faces a race against the clock to be fit for Sunday’s Manchester derby.
Manchester United and Man City will go toe-to-toe for the first time this season, with the two teams currently separate by six points in the latter’s favour.
The Reds are looking to build on three consecutive wins after Tuesday night’s 1-0 victory over FC Copenhagen in the Champions League, while City defeated Young Boys 3-1 on Wednesday night.
United fans will be worried about the team’s performances ahead of the derby, even though we appear to be winning football matches again.
Reporters quizzed Erik ten Hag on his squad ahead of the game. The manager gave an update on Aaron Wan-Bissaka but he couldn’t offer anything definite on Casemiro’s fitness.
“Aaron [Wan-Bissaka] was training today,” Ten Hag said as per the Manchester Evening News. “Case is a race against the clock, not 100%.”
It’s great news that we’ll have Wan-Bissaka back in the team soon – possibly at the weekend – but it doesn’t help that there’s uncertainty around Casemiro.
The Brazilian hasn’t performed well this season but that doesn’t mean anything ahead of a derby when we need our best players available. We don’t exactly have too many alternative options for our primary defensive midfielder.
On the other hand, City will be lining up with Rodri.
The derby may come too soon for Wan-Bissaka to start, so we can expect Diogo Dalot to get the nod at right-back.
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