The latest on Edinson Cavani ahead of Everton/Toffees may benefit from an injury absentee of their own
Fitness updates on the respective Manchester United and Everton squads have been forthcoming this evening, ahead of the meeting between the sides this weekend.
United host Everton
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and co. are set to welcome the Toffees to Old Trafford in 24 hours’ time, for a highly anticipated showdown.
Hosts United will of course head into proceedings brimming with confidence, having bounced back from a shaky week with a historic downing of Southampton on Tuesday night.
The Red Devils showed absolutely no mercy to their 9-man opponents, eventually emerging on the right side of a staggering 9-0 scoreline.
9-0 – This is only the third ever a side has won a Premier League game by 9+ goals;
1995 Manchester United 9-0 Ipswich Town
2019 Southampton 0-9 Leicester City
2021 Manchester United 9-0 SouthamptonRepeats. pic.twitter.com/0vCtj6IBKr
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 2, 2021
Everton, though, will prove no pushovers for their title-chasing hosts on Saturday.
Carlo Ancelotti’s men, despite having slipped out of the top-4, remain in the thick of the race for a Champions League berth.
An impressive 2-1 win at Leeds on Wednesday saw the Toffees move to within 4 points of 4th-placed Liverpool, whilst boasting a pair of games in hand on their Merseyside rivals.
Cavani in/Pickford out
As such, a hard-fought 90 minutes is widely predicted at Old Trafford tomorrow evening, with both sides vying for key season objectives.
And, as outlined above, ahead of the crunch clash, fitness updates on the respective United and Everton squads have, on Friday, been forthcoming.
First up was the latest from Solskjaer’s Reds camp, with the Norwegian having confirmed that Edinson Cavani, despite picking up a knock versus Southampton during the week, looks set to be available for selection:
Edinson should be available, yeah definitely.
He got a bad ankle knock there [against Southampton].
The news on Eric Bailly proved less encouraging, with the Ivorian, amid yet another string of fitness issues of late, not yet cleared to feature:
Eric is a doubt but, apart from that, everyone is raring to go.
🚨 The boss reveals whether @ECavaniOfficial will be fit for Saturday, and provides an update on a key defender…#MUFC #MUNEVE
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) February 5, 2021
On the Everton half, meanwhile, Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that the Toffees will not be able to call on Jordan Pickford for their trip to Manchester:
‘We have out for this game Pickford, he is not recovered yet.’
The news regarding England’s no.1 may actually serve as a blessing in disguise for Everton, though, with Pickford having again cost his side potentially crucial points at home to Leicester last week.
Replacement Robin Olsen, on the other hand, looked superb in midweek, en route to victory over Leeds.
Elsewhere, Ancelotti went on to reveal that long-term absentees Allan and Jean-Philippe Gbamin remain unavailable for selection, though the former, in a boost, has returned to first-team training:
‘We have out Allan, who started training with the team training. We have out Gbamin, who is following his individual programme.’
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Premier League table
| # | Team | MP | D | P |
| 1 | Manchester City FC | 21 | 26 | 47 |
| 2 | Manchester United FC | 22 | 19 | 44 |
| 3 | Leicester City FC | 22 | 14 | 42 |
| 4 | Liverpool FC | 22 | 18 | 40 |
| 5 | West Ham United FC | 22 | 6 | 38 |
| 6 | Chelsea FC | 22 | 13 | 36 |
| 7 | Everton FC | 20 | 6 | 36 |
| 8 | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 21 | 12 | 33 |
| 9 | Aston Villa FC | 20 | 11 | 32 |
| 10 | Arsenal FC | 22 | 5 | 31 |
| 11 | Leeds United | 21 | -2 | 29 |
| 12 | Southampton FC | 21 | -7 | 29 |
| 13 | Crystal Palace FC | 22 | -10 | 29 |
| 14 | Wolverhampton Wanderers FC | 22 | -8 | 26 |
| 15 | Brighton & Hove Albion FC | 22 | -5 | 24 |
| 16 | Newcastle United FC | 22 | -14 | 22 |
| 17 | Burnley FC | 21 | -15 | 22 |
| 18 | Fulham FC | 21 | -14 | 14 |
| 19 | West Bromwich Albion | 22 | -34 | 12 |
| 20 | Sheffield United FC | 22 | -21 | 11 |
| Player | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Salah, Mohamed | Liverpool FC | 15 |
| Kane, Harry | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 12 |
| Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United FC | 12 |
| Son, Heung Min | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 12 |
| Calvert-Lewin, Dominic | Everton FC | 12 |
| Vardy, Jamie | Leicester City FC | 11 |
| Bamford, Patrick | Leeds United | 11 |
| Wilson, Callum | Newcastle United FC | 10 |
| Zaha, Wilfried | Crystal Palace FC | 9 |
| Watkins, Ollie | Aston Villa FC | 9 |
| Rashford, Marcus | Manchester United FC | 8 |
| Lacazette, Alexandre | Arsenal FC | 8 |
| Soucek, Tomas | West Ham United FC | 8 |
| Sterling, Raheem | Manchester City FC | 7 |
| Ings, Danny | Southampton FC | 7 |
| Mane, Sadio | Liverpool FC | 7 |
| Barnes, Harvey | Leicester City FC | 7 |
| Gundogan, Ilkay | Manchester City FC | 7 |
| Maupay, Neal | Brighton & Hove Albion FC | 7 |
| Grealish, Jack | Aston Villa FC | 6 |
| Player | Team | Red Cards | Yellow Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bellerin, Hector | Arsenal FC | 0 | 7 |
| Egan, John | Sheffield United FC | 1 | 6 |
| Bissouma, Yves | Brighton & Hove Albion FC | 1 | 6 |
| Maguire, Harry | Manchester United FC | 0 | 6 |
| Lundstram, John | Sheffield United FC | 1 | 5 |
| Gallagher, Conor | West Bromwich Albion | 0 | 6 |
| Kante, N`Golo | Chelsea FC | 0 | 6 |
| Milivojevic, Luka | Crystal Palace FC | 1 | 5 |
| Hayden, Isaac | Newcastle United FC | 0 | 6 |
| Ward-Prowse, James | Southampton FC | 0 | 5 |
| Klich, Mateusz | Leeds United | 0 | 5 |
| Reid, Bobby | Fulham FC | 0 | 5 |
| McGinn, John | Aston Villa FC | 0 | 5 |
| Westwood, Ashley | Burnley FC | 0 | 5 |
| Doucoure, Abdoulaye | Everton FC | 0 | 5 |
| Hojbjerg, Pierre | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 0 | 5 |
| Romeu, Oriol | Southampton FC | 0 | 5 |
| Dunk, Lewis | Brighton & Hove Albion FC | 1 | 4 |
| Phillips, Kalvin | Leeds United | 0 | 5 |
| Cash, Matty | Aston Villa FC | 0 | 5 |
| Player | Team | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| Kane, Harry | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 11 |
| Grealish, Jack | Aston Villa FC | 10 |
| Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United FC | 9 |
| De Bruyne, Kevin | Manchester City FC | 9 |
| Son, Heung Min | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 6 |
| Digne, Lucas | Everton FC | 6 |
| Rashford, Marcus | Manchester United FC | 5 |
| Maddison, James | Leicester City FC | 5 |
| Ward-Prowse, James | Southampton FC | 5 |
| Robertson, Andrew | Liverpool FC | 5 |
| Cresswell, Aaron | West Ham United FC | 5 |
| Vardy, Jamie | Leicester City FC | 4 |
| Bamford, Patrick | Leeds United | 4 |
| Wilson, Callum | Newcastle United FC | 4 |
| Sterling, Raheem | Manchester City FC | 4 |
| Firmino, Roberto | Liverpool FC | 4 |
| Pereira, Matheus | West Bromwich Albion | 4 |
| Harrison, Jack | Leeds United | 4 |
| Werner, Timo | Chelsea FC | 4 |
| Adams, Che | Southampton FC | 4 |
