Jose Mourinho will be without just two first-team players when Manchester United travel to the London Stadium to face West Ham United on Saturday.
Manchester United will be looking to put the disappointment of their midweek Carabao Cup defeat behind them, when they take on West Ham United at the London Stadium on Saturday. Despite a few rumours of dressing room unrest, Jose Mourinho does not seem to have any major problems to on his hands.
Only two players are unavailable for Manchester United this weekend, with Marcos Rojo (knock) on the treatment table and Sergio Romero suspended. And, Mourinho confirmed the same during his pre-match press conference, announcing that the Argentine duo are the only players sidelined.
“Only Marcos Rojo is still out. And obviously Romero now with a one-match suspension. Apart from that, in a 26-player squad, everybody is available.”
With all of his regulars available, the back four shouldn’t provide many surprises. The only question mark surrounds the selection of underperforming full-back, Antonio Valencia. But, with Mourinho already iterating that Diogo Dalot will be eased into a potential role as a regular, the Manchester United captain should return as the right-back against West Ham.
The rest of the back four should remain unchanged from last weekend’s draw with Wolves, with Chris Smalling, Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw set to start. The back four will be hoping to provide better cover to David de Gea this weekend.
Meanwhile, most of the talk in the buildup to the game against West Ham has been about a possible rift between Mourinho and Paul Pogba, which would have put the Frenchman’s place under threat. But, the Manchester United boss has quashed all the speculations, insisting that Pogba will start against West Ham.
“Nobody trained better than Paul on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday – nobody trained better than him. he team needs good players; he is a good player. The team needs players with personality to play – he has and he plays tomorrow.”
Joining Pogba in the middle of the park, should be Nemanja Matic, who is available for selection for a league game for the first time in two weeks after serving his one-match ban. Marouane Fellaini is likely to complete the midfield trio, meaning Fred will have to make do with a place on the bench.
Upfront, Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard seem like automatic selections, despite their poor form. The big decision is regarding the final position in the side, especially with Marcus Rashford available after completing his three-match ban.
Alexis Sanchez will be eager to return to action. But, his poor form, coupled with Anthony Martial’s solid performances in his last two starts means the Frenchman might have done enough to join Lukaku and Lingard in the attacking trio, leaving Sanchez and Rashford on the bench.
