Manchester United host Crystal Palace at Old Trafford later today with both teams without a number of their first-team players.
The visitors will be without Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Wilfried Zaha, Christian Benteke, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and James Tomkins for the trip to Manchester.
Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho is without Paul Pogba, Phil Jones, Anthony Martial, Michael Carrick, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcos Rojo. Both Antonio Valencia and Marouane Fellaini are also doubts.
Pogba picked up a hamstring injury in the opening 20 minutes of our 3-0 thrashing of FC Basel in the Champions League more than two weeks ago.
No exact date of the French international’s return has since been announced, but Mourinho did confirm at Friday’s pre-match press conference that the 24-year-old star’s injury is more serious than first thought.
The Telegraph are now reporting that Paul Pogba could be sidelined for as long as until the November international fixtures – six weeks away.
Should this report be accurate then Pogba will miss both our crucial matches versus Liverpool on 14 October and our trip to Stamford Bridge to take on Premier League champions Chelsea on 5 November.
Our first match after the international break is at home to Newcastle United on 18 November.
Paul Pogba is awaiting further tests on his hamstring to determine the full extent of his injury. The French international is to wait another week for those tests.
The Telegraph have reported that we contacted Finnish muscle repair specialist, Sakari Orava, to establish whether or not our record signing will require surgery. Orava believes that Pogba could heal without surgery, according to the report.
Pogba’s absence means that Ander Herrera may partner Nemanja Matic in the centre of midfield for our second game in a row. Marouane Fellaini is a doubt to face Crystal Palace having missed our midweek trip to CSKA Moscow. Michael Carrick is out, meaning 20-year-old Scott McTominay could also be involved in this weekend’s game.
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