Moyes Offers Latest Man Utd Team News Ahead Of Man City Clash

Manchester United entertain rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford on Tuesday night looking to continue their recent mini-revival.

Ahead of the game, United boss David Moyes has been speaking at his pre-match press conference on Monday afternoon and gave ManUtd.com a team news update.

A mixture of injuries and suspension meant that the defending champions were forced to deploy Michael Carrick at centre-back during Saturday’s 2-0 win over West Ham at Upton Park and Moyes praised the versatile midfielder for his display.

With Nemanja Vidic still suspended tomorrow night and Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling still struggling with injuries, Carrick could retain his place alongside Phil Jones at the back – although Rio Ferdinand is pushing for a recall. Patrice Evra was rested at the weekend and is also back in contention to face City.

Striker Robin van Persie was recently ruled out with a knee injury and Juan Mata impressed in a more central role on Saturday night leading to claims that United could in fact be a better side without the Dutchman. However, while Moyes admitted the Spaniard played very well against the Hammers, he dismissed the suggestion they are better without RVP, insisting any team in the world would want the striker.

Moyes told the clubs website:

“Michael did great at centre-half,”

“He’s played there before so it wasn’t a problem. We even considered putting Marouane Fellaini back there as well, so I think we’ve got people who can do that if we have to.

“We gave Pat a rest but, if we have to, I think we can put him there as well and he would cope manfully. It was great that the squad mucked in and that’s the way it should be, when you are short in areas and it’s all hands to the pumps. We were short on Saturday and Michael certainly played really well.”

“There is no club in Europe who wouldn’t want van Persie at centre-forward,” insisted the boss. “And he is a massive miss. He changed the game against Olympiacos with the goals he scored.

“Mata came here to play two or three positions. We knew that. You’re never going to go through a season with no injuries. I mentioned that in one of my early press conferences, that players would get injured and you won’t always have Wayne Rooney or Robin van Persie fit for every game.

“That’s why you need a squad of players and Juan has come in and played well. He played very well on Saturday – he’s done well in all the games but, on Saturday, he was closer to scoring himself and maybe should have done on a couple of occasions.”

United head into the game sitting seventh in the Premier League table but will be looking for a win not only to claim the local bragging rights, but also to move level on points with sixth-placed Everton and retain their slim hopes of finishing in the top-four this season.

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