Sir Alex has today put our anxiety to rest with the news that Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa will be fit to face Wigan tomorrow, this comes after growing concerns that both would miss the game after picking up injuries whilst on international duty. Our defensive problems will still continue though, Phil Jones faces another 10 weeks out and Smalling faces another month on the sidelines.
“On the injury front, everyone’s fit, apart from the ones we know about – Jones and Smalling.” He continued “Jones was a bad blow for us. He got an injury in training last weekend and he’ll be out for eight to 10 weeks.
“We expect Smalling to be back training by the end of the month. There’s a little bit of comfort in that sense, given our centre-back situation. But with Jonny [Evans] back we’re in a better position than we were a couple of weeks ago.”
You have to be concerned about Jones’ injury problems. He always seems to be picking up little knocks here and there, and this 10 week lay-off certainly doesn’t help his case. I just hope it doesn’t hamper his progress in the long run.
The boss then discussed how travelling back from international duty could sometimes take its toll: “You always have concerns about players travelling in international breaks – we had Chicharito, Valencia and Kagawa,” he said. “They’ve all done it before, although with Shinji we don’t know exactly how he reacts to travelling back from long distances. Hopefully he’ll be okay.”
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