Manchester United take on Tottenham Hotspur this weekend, with Jose Mourinho’s men looking to finally end their Old Trafford drawing streak in the league; which currently stands at four. The game won’t be easy, though, with Pochettino’s men playing some nice football on occasion.
Before the game, the gaffer met the media to discuss a variety of topics including injuries – which is an obvious area of concern as we enter the hectic winter period.
One area of conversation was whether both Luke Shaw and Chris Smalling will be ready and available for selection for Sunday’s clash against Spurs, but sadly, they aren’t ready.
“not Sunday, no” Mourinho told reporters in his pre-match press conference, before adding it’ll be a “big loss” to be without the pair.
“Let’s hope Smalling can recover in time to replace him in the squad because, with so many matches, we need players. At the moment, we have Phil Jones, Bailly and Marcos Rojo [as centre-backs].”
“We play Tottenham, West Brom and Reading, West Ham away [among others] – in that period we have a lot of matches and it is important to have players.”
Thankfully, Eric Bailly came through the game against Zorya unscathed which will do wonders for his fitness levels. He has been our best centre-back so far this campaign, and to have him back available for selection over the Christmas season is vital.
These injuries must be a real concern for the manager, because we do look very thin on the ground across the back four at the moment – particularly at centre-half. That said though, both Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones have come into the side and for the most part, they’ve done excellently.
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