Manchester United are currently preparing to return to Premier League action away to relegation strugglers, Nottingham Forest later today, with the Red Devils coming into the match off the back of Thursday's bizarre and rather costly 2-2 draw with Sevilla in the Europa League at Old Trafford.
Having seemingly been cruising heading into the closing stages of that first-leg, quarter-final tie, a freakish, late capitulation saw the Andalusian outfit net twice to set up an intriguing contest in Seville next week, while Erik ten Hag's men also lost their first-choice centre-back pairing of Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez to injury.
While the former is only set to be out for a few weeks, it has since been revealed that the latter man will not feature again this season after sustaining a metatarsal injury late on against the La Liga side, with the top-four hopefuls set to have to make do without a player who has been an "absolute monster" this term, according to teammate Luke Shaw.
The absence of that standout duo will likely see club captain Harry Maguire return in his right-sided centre-back berth, with the 30-year-old having seemingly looked like a "different" player in last weekend's win over Everton – according to his manager – despite subsequently scoring an unfortunate own goal last time out.
Just who will partner the England international remain to be seen however, despite Victor Lindelof being the obvious candidate, with there undoubtedly likely to be a real benefit in deploying the aforementioned Shaw in the centre of defence once again, with the 27-year-old in contention to feature at the City Ground after his recent injury lay off.
Will Luke Shaw start against Forest?
Despite being a left-back by trade, the former Southampton ace – who recently signed a new long-term extension at the Theatre of Dreams – has already shown this season that he can be a more than capable understudy to Martinez, ahead of Lindelof, with Ten Hag previously outlining his preference for a left-footed option in that role:
"Because the left-footed are better orientated on the left side, in possession you then have better angles."
It was, ironically, during the reverse fixture against Forest back in December that the former Ajax boss first trialled Shaw in that makeshift berth, with the £150k-per-week man going to produce a composed display in that new role, as he 'did not look out of place', according to Manchester Evening News journalist, Samuel Luckhurst.
The 29-cap menace was subsequently hailed as "fabulous" by his manager after also featuring alongside Varane in the win away to Wolverhampton Wanderers just a few days later, having since also deputised for Martinez in the draw against Barcelona at Camp Nou, as well as in the Manchester derby victory back in January.
The 6 foot 1 rock notably did 'remarkably well' to thwart the influence of Erling Haaland in the latter's 2-1 victory – as per 90min's Grey Whitebloom – with that having been further evidence that Ten Hag can truly trust the Kingston-born gem to flourish in that perhaps unnatural position.
As such, amid United's mounting injury crisis, the returning Shaw must again move away from his usual full-back berth against Steve Cooper's men.
