Manchester United handed Lisandro Martinez fitness boost

The Argentina international was replaced at the interval of his side's opening match of the 2023-24 campaign against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday night.

At the time, it appeared that the decision was a tactical one, with the centre-back picking up a first-half yellow card, but Raphael Varane said after the match that his centre-back partner had suffered a minor ankle issue.

There had been some doubt surrounding his availability for the clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

However, speaking during his pre-match press conference, Ten Hag said that Martinez has been training and should therefore be available for selection against the capital outfit.

"He was just training [on Thursday], so I think so. Yeah," said the Man United head coach.

Man United played in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Everton on Tuesday, with Ten Hag detailing the importance of the players receiving minutes at this stage of the season.

"I think it's very helpful to give players the minutes at the start of the season. To come back to 90 minutes after pre-season. It's not that we had a pre-season for six weeks. It was, more or less, four or five weeks," said the Dutchman.

"So we need such games to give all the players the opportunity to get into the season."

Kobbie Mainoo, Amad Diallo, Tyrell Malacia and Tom Heaton remain on the sidelines for Man United, while Rasmus Hojlund is also not expected to be involved this weekend despite making progress in his recovery from a back issue.

The Red Devils lost eight of their 19 away league games last season, and Ten Hag has spoken of the importance of improving in that area during the 2023-24 campaign.

"It is one of the aims we have for this season that we have to step up in away games to get more points to bring higher levels, because that is the foundation of course for more points," he said.

"So it is often to do with personality. So that is the demand from me for the players that we have to show more personality on the pitch to win such games and to gather more points in away games."

Man United found it difficult to make their mark against Wolves in their season opener on Monday but secured all three points courtesy of a second-half header from Varane.