Manchester United face Wigan Athletic in the third round of the FA Cup on Monday, with Erik ten Hag’s men desperate for a positive result after a seriously turbulent first half of the season.
United are already out of the Champions League and the Carabao Cup, leaving the FA Cup as the only possible route to silverware.
After that, United will be looking to get back to winning ways in the Premier League as Tottenham Hotspur make the trip to Old Trafford.
United were comfortably defeated in the reverse fixture at the very start of the campaign and although Tottenham will be favourites going into the game, the latest game at Old Trafford will have inspired the Reds.
James Maddison, the former Leicester midfielder, was one of Tottenham’s best players in that 2-0 win over United last August.
Just days before the game, it has now been confirmed by Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou that Maddison has been ruled out of the game.
“[Maddison] not training with us yet mate, and I’ve said before until they’re training with us, it is hard for me to put a timeline on it,” Postecoglou is quoted as saying by Football London.
“He’s running with the sports science crew but not with us and not likely to be with us in the next couple of weeks, I don’t think.”
United have been dealing with injury hell this season but there could be good news in the coming week for Erik ten Hag.
This week, it was announced that Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez had both returned to full training after months on the sidelines.
It remains to be seen whether they will be fit enough to feature in that game but if that is the case, United’s chances of a positive result will increase by a sizeable amount.
Tottenham will be without Perisic, Solomon, Veliz, Maddison, Sarr, Bissouma, Son, Davies and Romero. This is their first choice midfield plus their best defender and top scorer. Van der Ven may be back but it would be his first game for nearly 3 months