Ruben Amorim has confirmed Matheus Cunha is fit to face Chelsea as Manchester United face a pivotal clash with their west London rivals this weekend.
A Pivotal Clash
The Red Devils are already under mounting pressure after a poor start to the new campaign – a continuation of the dismal season last year.
Three defeats from the opening five games, including the humiliating exit from the Carabao Cup at the hands of League Two Grimsby Town, has seen question marks again raised about Amorim’s future at the club.
The performances have improved from last year – but better than terrible does not equal good. And the team’s inability to convert good performances into good results continues to plague their Portuguese coach.
United are currently 14th in the table and in desperate need of three points against Chelsea, who will bring with them Alejandro Garnacho, the club’s former winger who completed a £40 million switch to Stamford Bridge over the summer.
And speaking in today’s press-conference, Amorim offered a major boost for the grudge match, revealing both Cunha and Mason Mount are fit and available for selection after recent absences through injury.
The former Sporting manager immediately batted away a pointed question about Garnacho, however, telling the journalist to ask Enzo Maresca about the Argentine instead.
“Garnacho is not our player, I’m focused on our players. I’m really happy with Mason and Cunha returning. The rest, talk to the Chelsea manager.”
Important injury updates
Cunha has been recovering from a hamstring injury sustained in the the 3-2 win over Burnley at the beginning off the month.
The Brazil international was forced off after just 30 minutes and missed the Manchester Derby on the weekend as a result. He has been working hard to return, however, and will be chomping at the bit to face a fragile Chelsea defence.
Mount was forced off at half-time in the same match, meaning Amorim was without two of the most important parts of his high-press system for derby with City last weekend. The lackadaisical performance out of possession on display in the 3-0 defeat was predictable as a result.
The fact that the 40-year-old coach will be able to recall both stars against Chelsea will be music to the ears of fans given the team’s struggles in their absence, though it remains to be seen if Amorim believes they are fit enough to start from the first whistle.
Diogo Dalot is set to miss the match, however, as the fullback has not recovered from the injury he picked up in international duty for Portugal.
Fellow defender Lisandro Martinez also continues to be unavailable as he steps up his recovery from an ACL. Amorim stressed United missed the Argentine’s “aggression” a lot.
“It’s really important [that Martinez is nearing a return]. When you have that injury you recover a lot of times very fast and then there is a boring part where it looks like you don’t go to the next step.
“We miss Licha a lot. We miss the aggression in this moment, how aggressive he is on everything he does, we miss him. But he’s always there in every meeting, even in training, he stays there to watch the training. I think we need Licha in this team.”
Ratcliffe’s visit to Carrington
Yesterday, the club’s co-owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, flew into Carrington to hold a series of meetings, including a direct conversation with Amorim.
This plan was scheduled well in advance, however, and was not a result of the team’s poor start to the season, though this was evidently on the itinerary for United’s hierarchy and their head coach.
“[A] a new contract, he was offering me a new contract!” Amorim quipped when asked what was under discussion with Ratcliffe and executives Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox.
“No, it’s normal things just to show the support, explaining that it’s a long project. He said many times this is my first season. For me, it’s not. But normal things. I spoke with him, with Omar, with Jason, just trying to see all the data around the team. A normal meeting and we had several. But in this moment, it’s normal people pay attention to that.
“This is the club with the most pressure in the world. We want to win and, again, you can say whatever. I think last year I was very critical of the way we play. I think we are playing well until the boxes, defending and attacking.
“We need to be more aggressive in the boxes, we need to be more clinical, the rest we are improving compared to last year, we are in a better place.
“We need to win. We lost against Arsenal and we lost against City. Here, losing especially in the beginning after last year, is a problem.
“We used the time to analyse the last game and to analyse the next game and to prepare different things. I think we are playing well until we reach the boxes. If you see the number of shots, the XG, all these things are good, but you don’t score it doesn’t mater. You don’t win games.
“The way we suffered the goals, we can avoid that. We are being naive, we need to be more aggressive in order to win games, we just have to maintain the way we are playing but improving on the opponent’s box and our box.”
“Especially against Chelsea. When they cross they have more guys inside the box and we suffer a little bit against Fulham. We work a lot during the week to be better on that.
“It’s always the same cycle. To analyse what we did wrong at the weekend and to improve the next week.”
Amorim is clear he believes his side are improving – and this is backed by the underlying statistics from United’s opening four Premier League fixtures. Evidently, it’s an explanation INEOS are content with as well – for now.
If results do not begin to match these improvements in performance, however, the pressure on Amorim’s shoulders will reach fever pitch. He, and his team, desperately need a strong display, and the three points to match, tomorrow evening.
United will kick off against Chelsea at 5:30pm on Saturday at the Theatre of Dreams.
Featured image Alex Livesey via Getty Images
Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social
Darragh Fox
Darragh is a writer for The Peoples Person who spent three years as a history graduate slowly realising football was by far the most interesting thing to write about.
