Erik ten Hag explains why Bruno Fernandes starts for Manchester United vs Tottenham

Erik ten Hag has praised the durability of Bruno Fernandes after the player was considered fit enough to start for Manchester United against Tottenham on Thursday night.

Fernandes sustained an ankle injury in the semi-finals of the FA Cup against Brighton at the weekend and he was pictured on social media wearing a protective boot at home, which suggested he could miss the Tottenham clash.

The midfielder was subsequently spotted walking without a protective boot at Carrington on Wednesday and Ten Hag, speaking at his pre-match press conference, confirmed that a late decision would be made on his fitness.

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Fernandes has now been deemed fit enough to start against Tottenham, meaning his remarkable run of not missing a game through injury for United continues, with Christian Eriksen and Casemiro set to start alongside him.

Harry Maguire is also absent from the squad to play Tottenham after picking up a knock in training. Ten Hag has not changed his defence from the win against Brighton, but Jadon Sancho has replaced Anthony Martial in the starting side.

That means Sancho will play on the left against Spurs, with Marcus Rashford down the middle and Antony on the right wing.

Ten Hag discussed his team selection with MUTV and said: "Anthony Martial, we have to manage his load. That's one thing, the other is Jadon is doing very well. Martial also, but we can choose and also from a technical perspective for today, we make this choice.

"We can change during the game, or Sunday we can do different, so we have more or less four or five players who can do a good job, but the number of games we have to play and we have in our legs already, we must rotate.

"Of course he's ready,