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23 January 2026 0 comments
FPL Marc FPL Marc
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Manchester United’s interim head coach Michael Carrick said “everyone came through the [Manchester City] game really well”, so there are no new worries for Gameweek 23.

However, speaking at Friday’s press conference, he confirmed that Matthijs de Ligt (back) will remain out.

“He had a bit of setback initially before I arrived, I think, only small. Not so much a setback but it was just a little bit slower that we had hoped. He’s certainly getting closer and hopefully in the next couple of weeks or so, without putting an exact time [on it], he will be back and around it.” – Michael Carrick on Matthijs de Ligt

Joshua Zirkzee is also sidelined. The player himself said last weekend he would be out for a fortnight.

Elsewhere, Noussair Mazraoui should be available after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations, while Shea Lacey is back from a one-match ban after being sent off in the FA Cup third round.

Away from team news, Carrick discussed his attacking options after leaving Benjamin Sesko and Matheus Cunha out last Saturday.

“It’s just variety in terms of the strengths in some ways. I think, Bryan [Mbeumo], I gave him a bit of a free role in many ways in a partnership with Bruno [Fernandes] last week, to drift and to fill different spaces. Ben [Sesko] is very good at playing on the last line and runs in behind and I think we’ve seen that in recent weeks, he’s done great to get his goal so he’s in a good place. Josh [Zirkzee] can do a little bit of both, he drifts and plays in the hole, plays into feet and links. He’s very good at bringing other people into play so it’s just different styles.

“Certain games will have different styles, it’s great to have that flexibility, for sure. Matheus [Cunha] came on through the middle and made a big difference for us in terms of carrying the game into the later stages and creating the second goal, so we’ve got good options through there and we just felt, last week, that was the way to go and, thankfully, it paid off for us.” – Michael Carrick


FPL Marc Broadcaster, writer and overthinker. Hoping that ‘differential potential’ will catch on.

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