Explained: Why Erik ten Hag benched Raphael Varane for Man Utd's Premier League clash against City

Centre-back Varane was left on the bench for the Manchester derby at Old Trafford on Sunday, with Jonny Evans, Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire all getting the nod to start ahead of him.

Varane has started just one Premier League match since returning from injury in late September but has been trusted to start in the last two Champions League matches, including their midweek win against Copenhagen.

The Frenchman was, however, left out of the squad for the home win against Brentford at the start of October and came off the bench late on in last week's victory against Sheffield United.

Asked why Varane was not named in the first-team for Sunday's match against their rivals, Ten Hag said: "Tactics".

When pressed further and asked if Evans and Lindelof's experience in the fixture was behind the decision, he replied: "Yeah but that’s not the argument to make the selection as I said it’s just tactics. That’s the answer."

United's next game is against Newcastle in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.