Manchester United hopeful of biggest selection boost of the season vs Wolves

Erik ten Hag is hopeful of having his strongest-ever Manchester United side available for the Premier League fixture away to Wolves on Thursday.

Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martinez and Casemiro returned from lengthy injury lay-offs in the FA Cup fourth round win against Newport County while Andre Onana is due to be back from international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations this week. Cameroon were eliminated by Nigeria on Saturday night and United kick-off at 8.15pm at Molineux on Thursday.

If Marcus Rashford is fit and selected, then Ten Hag would be free to pick all of his regular starters. "Could be, yeah," Ten Hag said of the prospect. "Potentially, yeah. Maybe for the first time as long as I was manager that we can pick a team from the squad that is probably the strongest, yeah.

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"I believe it's very important and first, now they have to step up to match fit, 100% and this game definitely helped. But in the Premier League the intensity is higher, they are forced to high levels but I think this game was very helpful to make the next step and be ready for Thursday.

"I know the character from Licha, from Casemiro, from Shaw, from Varane, from Diogo, I can mention more from Bruno, Antony, Garnacho, Hojlund, all fighters."

Ten Hag was satisfied with Altay Bayindir's performance on his debut against Newport. "I think it was a composed debut, some good saves, so very composed, yeah, I think overall he can be happy.

"I was pleased with his performance. Andre Onana will be back for Thursday."