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Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer faces an uphill task tonight when his team welcomes Manchester City for the first leg tie of this season's Carabao Cup semi-final.
If the task was already not hard enough, Solskjaer is sweating over the fitness of Harry Maguire, Anthony Martial, Luke Shaw, and Jesse Lingard.
Manchester Evening News have confirmed that there will be late fitness tests for all these players and it is highly unlikely that all of them will be available for selection tonight.
Maguire will be a big miss for Manchester United
Manchester United will need Maguire to be fit and lead their defence as a dangerous Manchester City side will be eager to avenge last month's Premier League defeat against Red Devils.
Lingard, Shaw, and Martial all missed Manchester United's FA Cup clash against Wolverhampton on Saturday while Maguire picked up a knock against Wolves on Saturday. The Englishman was seen limping his way to the team bus after the match.
Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard have not trained properly this week as they look to regain full fitness. Solskjaer will need these two to play key roles for his team, especially in the absence of Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay.
Both Pogba and McTominay are sidelined with injuries and not expected to be back before February. The Red Devils manager spoke positively about Lingard's contributions this season despite him not scoring or assisting a single goal for The Red Devils since December 2019.
Solskjaer believes Lingard has overcome the difficult time he faced in the last 12 months and can help Manchester United greatly in the second half of this season. Meanwhile Anthony Martial has been the second-highest goal-scorer this season with 10 goals across all competition.
Following tonight's first leg tie, both teams will face each other in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final at The Etihad Stadium on January 30th.
