Manchester United’s defensive issues are set to ease slightly by the time they take on Nottingham Forest, though they will still be far from full strength.
The Red Devils were forced to play Casemiro alongside Victor Lindelof in their Carabao Cup win over Burnley in midweek, with both Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane still on holiday after coming up against each other in the World Cup final in Qatar 8 days ago.
Meanwhile, Axel Tuanzebe and Teden Menghi are both injured, along with right-back Diogo Dalot, which resulted in Aaron Wan-Bissaka being handed a rare start against the Clarets in midweek.
However, the issues are set to ease, with Harry Maguire having recovered from illness and returned to training ahead of the clash with newly promoted Forest. The England defender has started just three time for Ten Hag in the Premier League, but is likely to partner Lindelof in defence against Steve Cooper’s side.
Maguire started all of England’s World Cup games as they reached the quarter-final, and was a defensive stalwart for Gareth Southgate alongside Manchester City defender John Stones.
And he is now in line to return to the Red Devils starting line up.
“We had some problems with illness like Harry Maguire, but he was back on the training pitch today so I’m happy with that,’’ Ten Hag said.
“Returning from Rapha Varane and Licha Martinez, they are not there [back at United] but we hope on their comeback [soon].”
Further forward, all of Casemiro, Christian Eriksen, Bruno Fernandes, Antony and Marcus Rashford featured in midweek after World Cup duty and are in line to do so again on Tuesday evening, along with the returning Luke Shaw.
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