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Manchester United boss Marc Skinner has confirmed the return of forward Celin Bizet ahead of Sunday’s crunch FA Cup semi-final clash with cross-town rivals Manchester City.
Bizet withdrew from Norway’s squad during the international break, missing out on UEFA Nations League games against Iceland and France.
However, Skinner has declared the 23-year-old fit and available for selection.
Skinner told reporters at a press conference, “Everyone comes back in today, I’ve not had any reports that anybody’s injured. So hopefully everybody’s fit and healthy.”
“Celin she’s fine, she’s trained all this week with us as well. She needed that rest period. She’d come out of the two games with like a niggling deep bruise, but she’s come out of that and she’s obviously okay.”
Skinner also gave a positive injury update on Evie Rabjohn, who sustained an ACL injury last summer. Rabjohn will not feature for the remainder of the campaign but has stepped up her recovery on the training ground.
“Evie is so welcome back on the grass, she joined into almost like a game format for really the first time on Wednesday. It’s probably going to be too soon for her to feature in any of these games, just because she’s got a lot of building back into the team [to do], and it’s a crucial part of the season that you’ve got to be really physically and mentally prepared for.”
“So probably unlikely, but she’ll have a great opportunity now to build with us for the rest of the season. And then obviously [we’re] looking at what the best option is for her to get gametime going into the new season.”
Long-serving City head coach Gareth Taylor recently left his post and was replaced by former assistant Nick Cushing.
Asked about the changes Cushing has implemented at City and the extent to which they could affect Sunday’s meeting, Skinner answered, “There are definitely signs of Nick’s influence on the team, however I’ve said this before, each manager of a Manchester City team adapts and evolves it slightly, but there is still a playing style, still a structure in the way that they play.”
“For us it is about understanding his traits but also knowing that Manchester City do what Manchester City do.”
United boast the best defensive record in the WSL this season and while Skinner praised the entire defensive department for this achievement, he singled out goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce for special plaudits.
“She’s an incredibly intelligent woman. She’s very aware of what is needed to do the role.”
“She was very aware of the situation she was walking into when Mary was number one and the world’s number one goalkeeper. Phallon still wanted that challenge.”
“She’s having to get used to what it’s like to be Man United’s number one. But if there’s any audition, I don’t know if there’s been a greater audition for her to be golden glove this year than what she’s produced. She’s a team player first. Goalkeepers are really strange, you’re on an island and you are an individual within a team. But Phallon has all of the team values, that’s why she’s in my leadership group as well.”
“She takes everything seriously, and I’m going to encourage her as she gets even better to just really enjoy the ride because she’s creating a fantastic legacy for herself.”
Skinner emphasised that his players must focus on their name and believe they can deliver a top performance.
“I think the mindset going into this game is I’m going to ask for the theme of don’t ask for permission. I mean that in terms of our performance.”
“Don’t ask Manchester City for permission to win this game. Go and give everything to try and win it. You know how much I respect the opponent, but for us, I just think it’s about controlling our performance.”
“We’ve just got to perform. I think if we perform, we know as a team we can beat anybody, regardless of whether you’ve been a great team like Manchester City or not. We have to be prepared to give everything. We want to get back to Wembley.”
City vs. United kicks off at 3pm UK time. The winner will face either Chelsea or Liverpool at Wembley.
Featured image Ben Roberts Photo via Getty Images
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