Louis van Gaal may avoid the risk of Anthony Martial aggravating his hamstring by leaving him out of Manchester United's crucial trip to West Ham United this evening.
The Frenchman hurt the muscle while warming up for Saturday’s victory at Norwich City. This caused Martial to be withdrawn from the XI and Ander Herrera to be drafted in as the Canaries were beaten 1-0.
As Manchester City could only draw with Arsenal on Sunday this has given United control of their destiny ahead of their last two matches. If West Ham are defeated, then Bournemouth in Sunday’s final outing at Old Trafford, Van Gaal’s team will finish in the top-four even if City win at Swansea City in their closing game.
Still tight
Yet with United also to face Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final on May 21st, Van Gaal is clear Martial will not be selected if there is any chance of this injuring him more.
“I cannot say because we have to wait,” the Dutchman said. “If his muscles are still tight I don’t take any risks because he is a very important player. We don’t want a rupture and that is very important.”
Van Gaal is intent his side must ignore the emotion involved in the Hammers’ final game at Upton Park as they push for Champions League qualification.
Given the home crowd will be particularly feverish and will drive Slaven Bilic’s side on Van Gaal wants his players focussed solely on winning.
The manager said: "We have to play against an opponent who says goodbye to the stadium so they don't want to lose in the old stadium. They have already lost to Manchester United in the last FA Cup match [in the quarter-finals]. That's also history. It's not good for us and West Ham United are a very good team.
"We have a lot of respect for West Ham United. They are a historical big club in England, in the Premier League. We don't want to spoil their party but we need the three points. That's different. It is a big night and I think the players shall feel that also."
Marcus Rashford and Daley Blind did not travel to Norwich as they were rested. Van Gaal may do the same again regarding any players who may be tired.
He said: “It is always dependable on the data from my fatigue specialist. I have to decide then on the data of my fatigue specialist who I am taking with me. It’s always like that. It can happen that I leave players at home because they are too tired.”
Slaven Bilic has told his West Ham players to embrace the emotion of their final match at Upton Park. To add extra spice to what is already a momentous occasion for the club, they also need a victory to keep their bid to qualify for the Europa League on track.
Bilic is counting on his players to rise to the occasion, rather than be overawed by it.
“It’s impossible to lose the emotion,” said the West Ham manager. “Let’s say if the game didn’t mean a lot to us or to Manchester United, in the sense of this season, it would be big anyway because it’s the last game at Upton Park.
“But it means a lot to them and to us – both things have clicked, so it’s big, big. It can’t be bigger. So the players would be emotional even if just one of those couple of things were involved. But there’s nothing wrong with being emotional.”
West Ham’s final Saturday at Upton Park ended in a damp squib, with a surprise 4-1 defeat by lowly Swansea. It also allowed Southampton to leapfrog them into sixth place, although West Ham would climb back above them with a win.
“We were disappointed not to do better in that game,” added Bilic. “We’d said before that the gap below was smaller than the gap to Manchester City in fourth. To be fair Southampton did a great job with wins against City and Spurs, and now they are with us.”
Darren Randolph will deputise for injured goalkeeper Adrián but Bilic has an otherwise fully-fit squad for the match.
Guardian Service
