Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has provided a fitness update on three first-team stars ahead of Sunday’s derby against Manchester City in the Premier League.
The Red Devils recently extended their unbeaten run to nine games in all competitions following a 3-0 win over Derby County in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
In the post-match press conference, Solskjaer was asked for an update on the squad for the derby and he happened to remain optimistic over the fitness of Harry Maguire, Daniel James and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Maguire was missing from the matchday squad on Thursday night after rolling his ankle in training but Solskjaer remains hopeful that the centre-back will recover in time to face Pep Guardiola’s side.
“Well, he’s touch and go because he rolled his ankle but, hopefully, he’ll recover quickly,” he told. “I wasn’t going to rest him today, I didn’t give him a day off birthday-wise but I hope he’ll be fit.”
Meanwhile, Wan-Bissaka and James missed the Cup outing with a back problem and a knock respectively. Solskjaer has suggested that the availability of the trio [including Maguire] will depend on Saturday’s training session.
“I hope so, yes, but none of them have been training yet since the last game, so we’ve got to look at them on Saturday probably because tomorrow is a recovery day,” he added.
United have come up against Manchester City on three occasions this season and they have had the better of their arch-rivals in two of those games – both at the Etihad Stadium.
The reverse league fixture at the Etihad saw United produce a scintillating counter-attacking performance in the opening half as they registered a 2-1 win.
Solskjaer’s side are currently holding onto a potential Champions League spot for next season. They can’t afford to lose on Sunday with just a two-point gap between them [fifth] and eighth-placed Sheffield United.
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