Michael Carrick has described his Manchester United squad as \u201cgood shape\u201d ahead of Sunday\u2019s visit from a depleted Liverpool, but there are several fitness questions to monitor before kick-off.<\/p>\n
United arrive on the back of back-to-back wins after succumbing at home to Leeds United and sit on the brink of Champions League qualification. Carrick has been credited with igniting a stuttering campaign, although he cannot take any credit for Man Utd\u2019s rare triumph at Anfield last October, as Ruben Amorim oversaw the Red Devils\u2019 first victory on the red half of Merseyside since 2016.<\/p>\n
Despite the positive run, the hosts are not entirely without concerns. Left-back Luke Shaw has been the club\u2019s most used outfield player this season, starting every Premier League game and leading the team for minutes played. Shaw rebuilt his career after a double leg fracture a decade ago and has avoided long absences this season, but he picked up a muscle injury against Brentford and was forced off in the second half of Monday night\u2019s win. Carrick gave a cautious assessment: \u201cWith Luke [Shaw], we aren\u2019t sure if he will be ready, but we are hopeful,\u201d the Man Utd boss said.<\/p>\n
Matheus Cunha has enjoyed a productive debut season for United with 10 Premier League goal contributions and match-winning moments against Chelsea and Arsenal. The forward, who often operates from the left and drifts infield, was a surprise absentee on Monday as he dealt with a hip flexor issue. The concern was tempered by Carrick\u2019s update: \u201cMatheus [Cunha] has done a little bit of work, so we are hopeful,” Carrick said ahead of Sunday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
Defensive options are further limited. Matthijs de Ligt has not featured since late November and is managing a back issue while continuing recovery at Carrington; his return date is unclear and his World Cup prospects have been put into doubt. Lisandro Mart\u00ednez is confirmed unavailable this weekend after a combination of injury and a suspension left him with only sporadic appearances over the past couple of months despite an early partnership with Harry Maguire under Carrick.<\/p>\n
Carrick and his staff will need clarity on those players before finalising their derby selection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Carrick says the squad is \u201cgood shape\u201d. Shaw, Cunha, de Ligt and Mart\u00ednez face fitness doubts ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1083,969],"tags":[1254,1021,1033],"class_list":["post-13568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-man-utd","category-premier-league","tag-adductor-injury","tag-amorim","tag-brazilian-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}