The Manchester Derby: 5 factors that could decide the game

#3 Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez or Marcus Rashford: Who will play?

Alexis and Lukaku are battling fitness: Rashford's time to shine?

Romelu Lukaku missed the wins against Bournemouth and Juventus following a hamstring injury. Alexis Sanchez picked up a fresh injury against Juventus and is facing concerns over a thigh strain. However, Jose Mourinho updated that Romelu Lukaku was with the first team for Friday’s morning’s training session.

Now the problem is, who will start? Alexis wasn’t at his best during Lukaku’s absence and hasn’t provided much to cement his place in the starting line-up. Romelu Lukaku himself is not in the best run of form and has scored only 4 times in 10 appearances in the Premier League. With the return from injury, Mourinho also shouldn’t be looking to force the return of his star forward.

Given both Alexis and Lukaku are struggling with injuries, Marcus Rashford is the best option to start as the centre-forward. Rashford has made 8 appearances in Premier League with 2 goals and an assist, however, he has only played a total of over 400 minutes, which is nearly four full games.

Starting with Rashford makes sense, as he is young, energetic, fresh and more importantly he is the only one fully fit. But his start also adds a bit of inexperience in the final third, with Lingard and Martial alongside.

If Lukaku is fit, he is capable of causing problems for the relatively less experienced City defence. Lukaku can win balls against tall defenders like Laporte and John Stones.

The Special One is the one who makes the decisions. But he should take into consideration the fact that Rashford scored against City last season at Old Trafford and was one of the best players wearing the red that night.