Manchester United will be bidding to return to winning ways in the Premier League when they welcome basement side Norwich City to Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon.
The Red Devils are currently seventh in the table, six points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, while Norwich sit bottom, seven points behind 17th-placed Everton, who have a game in hand.
United’s hopes of claiming a top-four finish in the Premier League this season suffered a huge blow last weekend when they lost 1-0 at struggling Everton, with the result leaving them in seventh spot in the division, six points behind fourth-placed Tottenham on the same number of matches (31).
Ralf Rangnick’s side will also need to finish above Arsenal and West Ham United if they are to claim a top-four position, while they are only two points clear of eighth-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers, so it is not impossible to imagine them missing out on European football altogether for next season.
Erik ten Hag is expected to soon be announced as the team’s new head coach, but Rangnick has an important job to do between now and the end of the campaign, and it would be a disaster for the 20-time English champions if they were unable to return to winning ways against the team bottom of the league.
Man United will take on Liverpool, Arsenal, Brentford, Brighton & Hove Albion, Chelsea and Crystal Palace in their final six matches of the season, and a win on Saturday could act as a springboard for the rest of the campaign, but they have dropped points in half of their 16 league matches at Old Trafford this term.
The Red Devils have won their last five matches against Norwich in all competitions, including a 1-0 success at Carrow Road earlier this season, with a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty deciding what was a close match, while they beat the Canaries 4-0 at Old Trafford in January 2020.
Manchester United Team News:
United will again definitely be without the services of Edinson Cavani and Luke Shaw through injury.
The home team are also without Raphael Varane, Fred and Scott McTominay against the Canaries, so Victor Lindelof, Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba are in line for starts.
Alex Telles will continue at left-back in Shaw’s absence, but there could be a change at right-back, with Diogo Dalot potentially replacing Aaron Wan-Bissaka, while Anthony Elanga could come in for Marcus Rashford.
Ronaldo suffered a nasty cut to his shin during the defeat to Everton last weekend, but the Portugal international has trained this week and is fit to lead the line for the home side.
Manchester United possible starting lineup:
De Gea; Dalot, Lindelof, Maguire, Telles; Matic, Pogba; Elanga, Fernandes, Sancho; Ronaldo
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