Missing Players and team news:
Aston Villa will once again be without Jack Grealish for this match, with the talismanic skipper set to miss his 12th successive game due to a shin injury. However, Smith is hopeful of having him back available soon, and he could even be involved when Aston Villa take on Everton this coming Thursday. Morgan Sanson is also on the verge of returning to training, although this game will come too soon, while Trezeguet is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines after undergoing surgery on his knee. Trezeguet’s absence is likely to result in more opportunities for Anwar El Ghazi, who has scored in his last two top-flight appearances, including the winner against Everton last time out. Villa’s main goal threat this season has been Ollie Watkins, who has netted a league-high seven goals against the established ‘big six’ this season and needs just one more goal to equal Julian Joachim’s club record of 14 by an Englishman in a Premier League campaign. Manchester United have no new injury concerns but are expected to rotate their squad heavily ahead of such a packed fixture schedule. Solskjaer is likely to regard the upcoming games against Leicester and Liverpool as more difficult matches, although the fact that they all come so close together means that he will have to manage his squad carefully, and the team that plays on Sunday could therefore be similar to the one which plays next Thursday. The likes of Marcus Rashford, Dean Henderson, Victor Lindelof and Scott McTominay were all rested from the start in midweek and so could come back into the side, while Luke Shaw and Aaron Wan-Bissaka were both taken off at half time and so should be fresh. Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani and Bruno Fernandes were all taken off before the end in Rome too, suggesting that they could be in line to start again this weekend, before being rested against Leicester. Fernandes has scored the winning goal from the penalty spot in both of his Premier League games against Villa so far. Solskjaer provided a positive injury update on Anthony Martial, whom he hopes will recover from his knee problem before the end of the season, but the Frenchman will miss out this weekend alongside Daniel James and Phil Jones.
