Eric ten Haag should field their strongest team for the League Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest, although it is becoming less and less clear who is in that best team.
At the time of writing, it is unclear whether Diogo Dalot or Anthony Martial will recover in time to play. Of the two, Dalot is likely to be called into the starting line-up as his replacement Aaron Wan-Bissaka did not play very well against Arsenal on Sunday. Martial’s deputy Wut Weghorst, on the contrary, spoke very competently.
Another reason is that United should be ahead of Forest and Dalot is much more capable of going forward than Van Bissaka.
However, as he has yet to return to training, he is unlikely to be fit enough to start.
The rest of the defense is likely to remain unchanged, despite the fact that the Gunners scored three goals.
Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez made almost no mistakes, but in the absence of Casemiro due to suspension, they were given no protection in midfield.
He will certainly be remembered along with Christian Eriksen, and Scott McTominay will return to the bench.
If Martial is fit, we expect him to start on the bench, but it remains to be seen whether Weghorst will be serviced by Anthony again after another lackluster performance at the Emirates.
One option is to switch Marcus Rashford to the right wing and Alejandro Garnacho to the left, which seems most likely.
Another possibility is that Fred starts in midfield and Bruno Fernandes is asked to replace him on the right wing.
Jaden Sancho is a secondary possibility, he has returned to full team practices, but without game preparation, he is also likely to begin his return from the bench.
With all that in mind, here is our predicted lineup for the semi-finals, first leg:
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