Jose Mourinho will ring in the changes when Manchester United pay a visit to Anfield to take on bitter rivals Liverpool on Sunday.
Jose Mourinho’s problems could threaten to worsen further, as Manchester United prepare to take on Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, with the two sides separated by a staggering 16 points after just 16 games this season.
Mourinho though, will be buoyed by the return of a number of key players, who have shrugged of their injuries to travel to Liverpool for the crunch game. These include Anthony Martial, Diogo Dalot, and surprisingly, Victor Lindelof, who seems to have recovered from his groin injury earlier than scheduled to make himself available for the tie.
The Manchester United boss did seem to be hopeful of some good news while speaking in his pre-match press conference.
“I hope that between now and tomorrow’s training session we can have some positive news. But the situation is not easy. The latest is to tell you that in Valencia only De Gea and Matic were available to play and didn’t travel by decision. Apart from that, the players that didn’t travel they were not fit to play in Valencia.”
“All of them, they had injuries and they were not ready. All of them, they didn’t train yesterday again. Today there will be a little – I don’t want to say test – but a little introduction to training to see the answer, to see the adaptation and to see that we can increase a little bit tomorrow to have them available for Sunday.”
But, one player, who will be missed dearly is Chris Smalling, who hasn’t managed to shake off a minor injury to be available for Sunday’s clash. With Marcos Rojo absent from the travelling squad and Lindelof having very little match practice under his belt, Eric Bailly and Phil Jones become automatic selections at the heart of the Manchester United defence.
Mourinho though, has all his resources available for the two full-back slots, giving him a healthy problem to consider. But, Diogo Dalot’s recent exploits, coupled with Ashley Young’s position in the squad means Luke Shaw will be the unlucky one to miss out for Manchester United on Sunday.
Behind the back four, David de Gea is set to return after being rested in the midweek UEFA Champions League tie against Valencia. Meanwhile, the Manchester United boss is likely to revert to a 4-2-3-1, with Nemanja Matic a certain starter.
Paul Pogba is likely to drop to the bench once again, following his poor showing against Valencia, leaving Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini as the realistic candidates to play alongside Matic, with the former likely to get the nod from Mourinho.
Up ahead in attack, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford were confirmed as starters by Mourinho, with the former likely to play in the free role behind the striker, who should be Romelu Lukaku. Martial should feature from the bench due to improper match fitness, meaning Juan Mata will take the final slot on the right side of the Manchester United attack.
