UNITED UNDER-21S AIM TO GO TOP OF THE TABLE
Manchester United will go top of the Barclays Under-21 Premier League table with a win or draw in Thursday night's derby against Manchester City at Leigh Sports Village. Kick-off is at 20:00 GMT.
MUTV will, of course, be screening the match live, while entry for all spectators is free, as the Reds look to follow up Monday's remarkable 7-0 thumping of Norwich City at Old Trafford with another three points to aid the defence of the title.
Warren Joyce is set to welcome several regulars back into his side after first-teamers such as Phil Jones and Memphis Depay started against the Canaries. Adnan Januzaj and Guillermo Varela were both withdrawn due to injury during the first half and will be checked out, although they could also be in contention for the senior squad's trip to Sunderland on Saturday.
"I don’t really know about the injuries," Joyce told MUTV on Monday night. "We’ll have to assess them. Varela’s was just a kick on the ankle so it shouldn’t be too bad and Adnan over stretched so it was just a precaution really. Hopefully, they’ll be fine.
"We are quite thin on the ground with three teams – the first team, the Under-21s and the Under-18s - all playing three games in 48 hours. A lot of the players are involved at each level, like Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Marcus Rashford, Axel Tuanzebe and Ro-Shaun Williams, so it will be a difficult few days trying to get the players that everybody needs but we know that the players we have will all give 100 per cent and put on a performance."
United are striving to take another big step in the pursuit of more silverware with the team currently on a run of seven wins in eight games with the exception being a 2-0 reverse to Everton behind closed doors.
"The lads have done really really well," added Joyce. "The Everton game was a disaster from start to finish, we were due to play at Southport but, due to a waterlogged pitch, it was moved to Finch Farm at the last minute, which isn’t great preparation for any players on a matchday.
"These players are close to first-team football and we are pushing them into a situation that is not correct, to do that in such circumstances is not helpful for anybody. It was a bad night all round - the environment and the result.
"It was one of the worst I have been involved in at any level, extremely frustrating and something we have spoken about as a group because there are very few positives from an experience like that.
"That’s not just because we didn’t get a good result and lost the game, it’s not one of those games that the Premier League should advocate as the next progression towards first-team football. But, barring the Everton result, we have had some great results recently and we hope that continues against Manchester City."
The Blues are seven points behind the Reds having played the same amount of games and the two Manchester clubs will do battle again on Saturday 20 February at 13:00 GMT. That away clash for United, which will also be live on MUTV, has been moved from the Etihad Stadium to City's Academy Stadium.
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