FA Cup
Man Utd Injury & Team News Update: Evans, Young, Jones & More…
Man Utd welcome Premier League counterparts Fulham to Old Trafford on Saturday for their FA Cup fourth round clash. Here is a team news update for the game.
Manchester United welcome Premier League counterparts Fulham to Old Trafford on Saturday for their FA Cup fourth round clash.
Manager Sir Alex Ferguson has given a team and injury update ahead of the game with the latest news on Jonny Evans, Ashley Young, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling.
The good news is that defenders Jones and Smalling are in contention to face the Cottagers this weekend but the bad news is that Young and Evans will miss the tie after failing to fully recover from their injuries in time.
Both players took part in some light training while United were away at a warm weather training camp in Qatar this week, but are not considered fit enough to face Fulham – although Sir Alex claims they will be back in time to face Real Madrid.
Ferguson told ManUtd.com:
“Jonny Evans and Ashley Young are still not 100% fit,” Sir Alex revealed. “We had a good week training in Qatar and it was a great time to go there – we couldn’t have picked a better moment actually when you consider the weather we’ve had here.
“So it’s worked out very well for us and hopefully we get the benefit from that. It was always the plan at some stage to do that this January. It couldn’t have worked out better for us.
“Ashley Young is not far away. He trained a bit in Qatar. Not a lot, but at least he is on the road back and he has always been an important player for us.
“Jonny is just taking a bit longer than we thought. But he did a bit of training in Qatar. Again, not a lot, but he is on the way back. The bonus for us, of course, is that Phil Jones and Chris Smalling are both back. So we’re not so bad in that department.”
“Both of them [Evans & Young] will be fit for that [Real Madrid]. I would hope to have a fully fit squad by the time those games come around.”
We’ll have a full match preview for United’s game against Fulham up on the site shortly but now we’ve seen the team news, what would be your preferred starting eleven? Leave your suggestions in the comments section below.
