Innocent AndrewManchester United will be aiming to return to winning ways when they face Norwich City at Old Trafford later this afternoon.
The Red Devils have suffered a torrid season and find themselves seventh in the table behind Arsenal, West Ham and Tottenham who are all firmly in the race for this season’s top four.
Ralf Rangnick’s side lost 1-0 last time out to strugglers Everton which all but ended hopes of getting into the top four. A win for Tottenham last Saturday compounded a miserable weekend for the Reds.
Erik Ten Hag looks set to become United’s next permanent manager after a breakthrough in contract talks which will see the Dutchman succeed Rangnick in the summer. The Ajax boss is set to sign a three-year-deal with the option of a further year.
However, before Ten Hag is officially unveiled as the new manager, United have seven league games left to play with the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea still to come.
The Reds are currently six points behind Tottenham who sit fourth in the table.
United have won their last five matches against Norwich in all competitions including a 1-0 win at Carrow Road earlier this season thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty. United beat the Canaries 4-0 the last time that the two sides met at Old Trafford back at the start of 2020.
The visitors currently sit bottom of the Premier League with 21 points and remain seven points away from safety.
The Canaries won last time out against fellow strugglers Burnley as they beat the Clarets 2-0 at Carrow Road last Sunday.
Scoring goals has been a real problem for Norwich this season, having scored just 20 times in their 31 league outings, with nine of those coming from top scorer Teemu Pukki.
Norwich have a huge fixture against Newcastle United next weekend whilst they also face Aston Villa, West Ham, Leicester City and Tottenham before the end of the campaign.
Dean Smith’s side have the second worst away record in the division, picking up just nine points from their 15 away matches this season. However, United’s recent form has been poor which will give the visitors encouragement ahead of the game.
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The injury list has piled up yet again for the home side with Edinson Cavani, Raphael Varane, Luke Shaw, Scott McTominay and Fred all set to miss the clash on Saturday afternoon.
Alex Telles will almost certainly continue at left-back in place of the injured Shaw with both Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba nailed on to start.
Young Alejandro Garnacho is with the first team squad for the game and could get some game time if all goes well.
As for Norwich, Adam Idah, Ozan Kabak, Josh Sargent and Andrew Omobamidele are all definite absentees with their respective injuries and Brandon Williams is unavailable to play against his parent club.
Billy Gilmour and Przemyslaw Placheta are doubts for the game so it would not be a surprise to see Smith name the same team that started against Burnley last time out.
Innocent Andrew
