Early team news for United v Brighton

Thursday 01 April 2021 13:00

Manchester United will be assessing the players who are back from international duty ahead of Sunday night's return to Premier League action against Brighton & Hove Albion.

Reds boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could have a number of options available for the visit of the Seagulls, who won their last two matches before the break.

David De Gea and Dean Henderson have both been away with their respective countries, Spain and England, but did not get any World Cup qualifier minutes under their belts. The two will be competing for the gloves again after Henderson played the last six games before the break.

At the back, Harry Maguire scored a late winner for England, against Poland, while Luke Shaw also reappeared for the Three Lions, in the victory in Albania. Victor Lindelof missed Sweden's 1-0 victory over Estonia and Eric Bailly has been away with Ivory Coast but did not feature in their most recent outing, a 3-1 triumph over Ethiopia.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Alex Telles, Axel Tuanzebe and Brandon Williams have been among those working at the Aon Training Complex in the meantime.

Paul Pogba stepped up his return to fitness with some valuable minutes for France so hopefully he will be fully recharged for the run-in after his recent lay-off. Scott McTominay also looked in good shape for Scotland while Donny van de Beek got on the scoresheet for the Netherlands, against Gibraltar, and should also be available.

Nemanja Matic and Fred were able to continue training with the Reds and Bruno Fernandes came back a little earlier than scheduled after sitting out Portugal's final match of the break due to suspension.

Daniel James must be brimmng with confidence after his impressive header earned Wales a vital victory over Czech Republic in midweek.

Youngsters Amad, who enjoyed his first senior Ivory Coast call-up, Hannibal, who stepped into the senior group this week after recovering from injury, and Shola Shoretire, fresh from a stay with England Under-18s, will all be looking to push for places.  

90 in 20: Brighton 2 United 3 Video

90 in 20: Brighton 2 United 3

Watch 20 minutes of extended highlights to see all of the chaos, drama and excitement of our 2020 win at Brighton...

In attack, there is an obvious doubt over Marcus Rashford's availability for the weekend after he was forced to withdraw from England duty due to an ankle problem. Mason Greenwood was also ruled out of the England Under-21s squad due to injury and Anthony Martial hurt his knee for France in Kazakhstan and did not feature in the away win over Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Hence, there must be question marks surrounding those three forwards but at least Edinson Cavani looks like he is getting back to full fitness at the Aon Training Complex after working with the small group.

BRIGHTON'S TEAM NEWS

Albion boss Graham Potter had the luxury of having more players at his disposal in training all week but Jakub Moder scored for Poland at Wembley and Leandro Trossard netted twice for Belgium in an 8-0 thrashing of Belarus.

Danny Welbeck is in contention to play at his old stamping ground and Adam Webster could be closer to a comeback. However, Tariq Lamptey and Solly March, who scored in our dramatic 3-2 win in the corresponding fixture in September, are out for the season. Florin Andone and striker Aaron Connolly, who withdrew from Republic of Ireland duty with a calf problem, must be doubts.

We will have updates from both camps after Solskjaer and Potter hold their pre-match press conferences on Friday.

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