- Erik ten Hag hopes that Antony and Scott McTominay will be available for the match
- The Man United boss warned his side before facing the Championship team
- If Erik ten Hag wins the FA Cup with Man United, does he deserve to keep his job? Listen to the It all starts podcast
Harry Maguire is battling to be fit for Manchester United’s FA Cup semi-final with Coventry at Wembley on Sunday as the club’s defensive injury crisis bites deep.
Manager Erik ten Hag is already without six senior defenders in Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Victor Lindelof, Jonny Evans and Tyrell Malacia.
He revealed Maguire only trained on Friday after last weekend’s draw at Bournemouth, when he played alongside teenager Willy Kambwala for the second game in a row.
The United boss is confident Maguire will be fit in time to face the Championship club as United look to secure a place in the FA Cup final for the second year running.
“We have some problems,” Ten Hag said. ‘Harry had a small injury and hasn’t trained so far this week, but now he’s back on the pitch. We expect him to be back on Sunday, I hope.”
Harry Maguire is battling to be fit for Man United’s FA Cup semi-final against Coventry
Maguire had not trained before returning to the field ahead of Friday’s semi-final
Erik ten Hag thinks that Antony will be fit against Coventry at Wembley on Sunday
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The Dutchman also hopes that Antony and Scott McTominay will be available for the match. Antony has missed one game and McTominay two with a knee injury, but Ten Hag said: ‘Antony and Scott, I expect them to be back. Scott hasn’t trained all week, partly on Wednesday. Today I expect him to train fully. Antony has been training all week.’
United will be on their guard after a Coventry team pushing for promotion from the Championship shocked Premier League club Wolves 3-2 in the quarter-finals.
Ten Hag said: ‘We have done our job, we are prepared and we know their team, how they play, the individual abilities of the players and we know the manager, he is doing a fantastic job there, so we know a lot about them.
‘Of course they are dangerous. They are in the semi-finals, then it makes sense. Last season they weren’t that far away from promotion to the Premier League, so they’re doing fantastic there. We saw the match against Wolves in the quarter-final, the mentality is fantastic. We have to play at our best level.’
Ten Hag was reluctant to dwell on a better performance than last season, when United lost to Manchester City in the final, or on what success could mean for his second season at Old Trafford.
Scott McTominay missed the last two games due to injury but is expected to return
“Last season was last season,” he added. ‘We want to achieve something every season, we want to win trophies. We have a great chance, we are in a semi-final, but it is a huge challenge. We know all the problems and when you have so many problems, you have to find solutions. On Sunday we will find solutions and we want to go to the final.
“You always have to look at the circumstances we face, but I’m not thinking about that at the moment. I’m thinking about Sunday, how we beat Coventry City and the rest is for later. We are making plans for next season, but for now it’s all about Sunday.’