Manchester United return from Champions League action to host West Ham United at Old Trafford in this Saturday’s evening Premier League kickoff.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be forced into making at least two changes from the side that lost 1-0 at home to Barcelona midweek as both Luke Shaw and Ashley Young are suspended for the visit of the Hammers.
The boss has been speaking at his pre-match press conference this morning to give a team news and injury update. Ole told MUTV:
“We don’t have full-backs this week. Not too many as we’ve lost Luke and Ashley through suspension. Antonio [Valencia] is still not fit. Maybe Matteo [Darmian] will be available for the bench and [Marcos] Rojo has been training for a while.”
”He’s available and we’ve got Jonah [Phil Jones], who could also play there. Rojo needed to get out on the big pitch [in the Under-23s, against West Brom last Friday] so he could have that game but we’ve had a couple of practice matches so let’s see what we decide.”
Luke Shaw will start a two-game ban for picking up 10 yellow cards this season whilst Ashley Young will only miss this game following his dismissal in our last league outing, at Wolves. Not only will we be without our two first choice full-backs, but we are very thin in this position due to Antonio Valencia being injured.
Energetic midfielder Ander Herrera remains sidelined but Nemanja Matic could make his return having missed Wednesday night’s game due to illness, but Solskjaer wasn’t so sure:
“We’re getting better and better but, of course, Nemanja fell ill. I’m not sure he’s going to be ready.”
Centre-back Eric Bailly is still not ready to make his return but both Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelof are available. However, Ole may have an eye on the second leg against Barcelona on Tuesday night to consider resting players.
Alexis Sanchez has been back in training this week but the West Ham game may come too soon for the Chilean. Ole said:
“Alexis is getting close but I’m not sure he’ll be ready yet.”
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