Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcos Rojo are on the treatment table as Manchester United visit Turf Moor to take on Burnley on Sunday.
Manchester United return to Premier League action on Sunday, as they take the cross Lancashire trip to Turf Moor to take on Burnley. Manchester United will be looking to close the gap on fourth-placed Manchester City to one point, while the Clarets will aim to get further away from the relegation threat.
The reverse fixture ended in a goalless draw that frustrated Jose Mourinho’s men to no end, and ahead of the second meeting between the two sides on Sunday, here’s the team news for Manchester United.
The report on the team news front is not positive for Jose Mourinho, as he is in deep trouble as far as fitness issues are concerned. The Manchester United boss has as many as five key first team on the treatment table, each of whom will not play another minute of football again this month.
English central defensive duo Chris Smalling (knee) and Phil Jones (ankle) have been on the sidelines since last month, and will not be available till the fag end of the season. Attacking midfielder Juan Mata, too, remains unavailable after he underwent surgery on his groin.
Marcos Rojo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are the latest players to pile on the misery on Jose Mourinho, as the duo sustained long-term knee injuries in Manchester United’s Europa League quarterfinal second leg triumph over Anderlecht on Thursday.
The early reports suggest that Rojo and Ibrahimovic are set to be sidelined for the remainder of the season, and are unlikely to regain fitness before the start of next season.
Providing his early team update, Mourinho had mostly bad news for the reporters, while he did remain hopeful of Mata returning before the end of the season. The Manchester United boss also mentioned that Rooney is set to return, having recovered from an ankle injury that had him sidelined since the start of April.
He said: “We lost Marcos Rojo, we don’t have Jones, we don’t have Smalling. We are in trouble and, now, we lose Zlatan too but, in attack, we have options: Rooney is coming and let’s see if Mata can also return before the end of the season. Let’s see what happens.”
Mourinho also confirmed that Ander Herrera and Ashley Young are set to start on Sunday after the duo remained on the bench in the midweek game. He continued: “Herrera plays [against Burnley]. Herrera is fresh to play. Ashley Young is fresh to play and who else? Nobody else is fresh to play!”
