Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has confirmed that Marcus Rashford is available for Sunday's FA Cup third-round clash with Arsenal, while Altay Bayindir will start between the sticks against the Gunners.
Rashford was not selected in the squad against Liverpool last weekend, partly down to his recent issues, but he had also missed training sessions due to an illness, which carried on into this week.
The England international is currently being heavily linked with a move away from Man United, with AC Milan and Juventus seemingly emerging as the favourites to sign on him on loan for the second half of the campaign.
Rashford has not played for Man United in any competition since the Europa League clash with Viktoria Plzen on December 12, and he was initially left out of the squad for the Manchester derby due to poor performances in training.
The 27-year-old has continued to be overlooked by Amorim, with Rashford seemingly on the verge of leaving Man United, but Amorim did confirm during his press conference on Friday that the academy product was available for the FA Cup fixture against Arsenal, having now recovered from his recent illness.
Rashford could be in the Man United squad against Arsenal
Amorim also confirmed a surprise starter on Sunday, with Bayindir set to start in goal for the 20-time English champions.
"I don't rotate because I want to rotate," Amorim told reporters. "I'm trying to find the best solutions to win the game. I put the guys in who are more fresh to cope with the demands of the game. The goalkeeper position is different, so it's a good question. Altay will play."
"I think I rotate more in that part where we were trying to find out what kind of players we have. Then, a lot of players were returning from injuries. Now, we are rotating less. I feel that sometimes I have to choose fresh legs because I look at some players in the same position and I feel that they are at the same level, so I try to put in some fresh legs.
"Now we have time to train a bit more, I expect our team to understand better the game. We try to work on set-pieces, because it's really important. We suffer a lot in the last games. So we will see. I don't rotate because I want to rotate
" I'm not different than the other coach. I'm trying to find out the best solutions to win every game and, sometimes, I have doubts over which game I'm going to put and I put the guys who are more fresh to meet the demands of the game."
Man United are only set to be missing three players against Arsenal, with Victor Lindelof, Luke Shaw and Mason Mount unavailable for selection due to injury problems.
Amorim says he will select "the best team" against Arsenal
Amorim has hinted that he will be selecting his "best team" against Arsenal despite the fact that the fixture comes ahead of successive Premier League games with Southampton and Brighton & Hove Albion.
"I see what everybody sees: a really old competition with a lot of history. I remember some finals, I think when we won the Treble against Newcastle, Sir Alex Ferguson saved some players, it was really important for the club," Amorim added.
"We won some cups, we want to continue. We know that, at this stage, we already have a really strong match but we want to win and also we want to continue to improve the team and the performance.
"In this moment, I'm living day by day. What I'm thinking is that one week without any game, we had a day off, we could work the team a little bit and then it doesn't make sense for me to rest players now, then to play both games really near. So I think we have to put the best team, we have to win and we have to follow the last performance.
"So I'm not thinking in that way, because we are not in that moment. We are in the difficult moment, we are improving, we had some training, let's put the best team to try to win and then we will focus on the next game.
"So my focus is more on our week, we had time to train, to rest, so I will choose the best team to win, because we also want to win the Cup. In the Cup, you never know, so let's win. Sometimes, it's better to win this kind of game and then you have less time to rest but your mind is so different that you can cope with the physical aspect of the game.
"So my focus now is different, it's day by day, we just want to win this game and then we will think about the next one."
Man United are without a win in their last five matches in all competitions, suffering four defeats in the process, but they are the holders of the FA Cup, having beaten Manchester City in last year's final. body check tags ::
