Crystal Palace vs Man Utd: Erik ten Hag update on Anthony Martial & Wout Weghorst availability

Erik ten Hag has revealed he is unsure whether Anthony Martial or Wout Weghorst will be available to start in Manchester United’s trip to Crystal Palace on Wednesday.

Martial was suffering with a leg injury in the build-up to Saturday’s Manchester derby and didn’t look fully fit in the first half against Manchester City, before being replaced at half-time. The Frenchman wasn’t seen in Monday’s training footage on the club website, albeit only players who didn’t start at the weekend were pictured.

The striker is therefore an injury doubt for the clash against Palace. “I hoped to avoid that he was getting injured but he was complaining,” said the United manager, in reference to his decision to replace the no.9 on Saturday.

“That’s why he also didn’t train in the week and was a question mark [for the derby]. We decided - and he decided as well - to start. He begged to start. I knew the start would be so important in this game and he is really good at pressing and he is a really big element in our pressing.

“But I needed to re-evaluate at half-time as you saw he was not capable to go 100 percent and this is what you need. And also to avoid him getting injured so we took him off but it also had a negative impact on our game after half-time.”

Should Martial not be deemed fit to start at Selhurst Park, Weghorst may be the obvious replacement. The Dutchman joined on loan from Burnley last week and, unlike Martial, was seen in training on Monday.

Asked whether Weghorst could play from the off against Palace, Ten Hag replied: “I have to think about that. First settle down after this game [against City], make the right conclusions and then we will make a clear plan for Palace.

“Of course I know a lot about Palace - we faced them also in pre-season and know how their team is - but the total plan I don’t have now. From this point on we can construct the plan and prepare the team in the right way.”