Manchester United rundown ahead of Premier League return

National World - LocalTV

A look ahead for the Red Devils…

Transcript

00:00Rich, let's have a look at the latest from Manchester United. Obviously, Nottingham Forest

00:06in the first game back after the international break. Man United have a fair few injuries

00:11as well in terms of their squad. Not great form going into the international break as

00:17well. It's a bit of a different situation, not the ideal fixture. You want to come back

00:22into the form. Their run-in suggests there's some chances to be had. What's the latest

00:30ahead of this run-in for Man United and where you can see them ending up this season?

00:37I think they're kind of in the best position they could be right now. 13th is kind of as

00:42high as you'd expect them to finish. They could still finish as low as 15th. There's

00:47been sensational headlines throughout the campaign that they could get relegated. That's

00:50never been in any sort of doubt, just because the bottom three are so far away from the

00:57chasing pack, from everyone else, so the leading pack, that you've never really worried that

01:01United would actually go down. But it is glaring that this season will be their lowest ever

01:06Premier League finish, almost regardless of what happens in these remaining matches this

01:10season.

01:11And the other thing that works kind of to United's advantage is the Europa League has

01:16to be their priority now. United fans would obviously complain, but it wouldn't be such

01:21an issue if they didn't win another league game this season, but then did win the Europa

01:25League, because that's obviously the more favourable outcome. We'll get them back to

01:28the Champions League, solve those financial issues and really help them ahead of the summer

01:33and make them a lot more of an attractive prospect for players to join. But it's easier

01:39said than done. And ultimately, there's a reason why Man United are 13th in the Premier

01:43League this season. There's a reason why they have lost so many matches and why so

01:47many teams have had a really good chance against them. They could easily have lost at home

01:52to both Leicester in the FA Cup and to Southampton in the league. They ultimately didn't, but

01:57they quite easily could have. And that does tell you just how bad they've been.

02:02In terms of the injury front, at the moment, there was, I think, 10 players who are technically

02:06still injured going into Tuesday night's game against Forest. The hope is that Harry Maguire

02:11will be available and that some of the centre-backs will be back soon as well, the likes of Lenny

02:15Yarrow and Aidan Heaven, not too long term. There's also encouragement that Amad Diallo,

02:21arguably United's best player of the season before he got injured. He's been overtaken

02:24by Bruno Fernandes now in that stake. He could be back ahead of schedule. He was initially

02:30ruled out for the rest of the campaign. Then Ruben Amirim said he could be back at the

02:34start of May. Now there's even a slight hope he could be back at the end of April, which

02:40is particularly huge because he could play in a Europa League semi-final or a potential

02:47final there. The Forest game is, on paper, very daunting. We saw Forest defeat Man City

02:53prior to the international break. They've not really lost any momentum. They look like

02:58they could be in the Champions League next season, which is a fantastic achievement.

03:02They have that belief and they would love it because although Nottingham Forest have

03:08been very good, they've had some great wins this season as well. What a seismic moment

03:16it can be. I know they've had good results of United as well in the past couple of seasons,

03:19but if they could batter Man United at home, that's just another feather to put under your

03:23cap really. So it's going to be daunting. I think from a United point of view, they

03:28will hope Forest have the energy taken out of them against Brighton in the FA Cup this

03:32weekend. Of course, United will have had a free weekend as well. So it'll be over almost

03:37just over two weeks since they last played against Leicester and it'll be interesting

03:41to see if anything's changed in that regard. Ruben Amirim has said ever since he arrived

03:45really that he's just not had the time on the training ground with these players to

03:49implement his style of play, to get them doing what he wants them to do. So yes, all eyes

03:53will be on the city ground and whether United have actually learnt to play the Amirim way yet.

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