Manchester United can give Alvaro Fernandez a debut after latest injury blow

For many Manchester United fans the biggest game left for the club this season hasn't actually been given a date and kick-off time.

If the first team have been an almost weekly let-down for United followers, the youngsters have been a rare ray of sunshine in a campaign as grey as an overcast day in Manchester. United's Under-18s have reached the Youth Cup final for the first time in a decade and the final, a one-off game at Old Trafford against Nottingham Forest, is a fixture to look forward to.

It certainly feels more exciting than today's home game with a doomed Norwich City and United's hopes of a top-four finish are now slim to nonexistent. By next weekend they will probably be over.

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The vicious response United's players got as they trudged past the Goodison Park away end last season revealed the level of disappointment that is reserved for that squad now. A season that promised so much has been an unmitigated disaster.

But Travis Binnion's youngsters have at least managed to light up at Old Trafford and while they will be determined to finish the job against Forest, a few of them might also be hoping for some grander exposure before the end of the season. United's growing injury list and the sense that this campaign is now essentially over should certainly open the door to some opportunities across the final seven games of the season.

The primary beneficiary that United fans want to see - and they may get their wish after he was named in the squad to face Norwich - is 17-year-old Alejandro Garnacho and the winger is clearly an exciting prospect, though a number of Neil Wood's Under-23 group could also be given a chance. Hannibal Mejbri has been an unused