Man Utd Team News: van Gaal Confirms Injury Boost Ahead Of Crystal Palace Clash

Manchester United will look to close the gap on the top four when they entertain Crystal Palace at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.

Ahead of the game, Louis van Gaal has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference this afternoon and he’s given ManUtd.com a team news and injury update.

The Dutchman was pleased to confirm an injury boost with the news that midfielder Ander Herrera is fit and available for selection after recovering from a foot injury.

The Spanish international missed the 1-0 win over relegated Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon after picking up the foot problem during United’s FA Cup win at West Ham the previous Wednesday.

However, van Gaal has confirmed that he expects Herrera to return to the squad against Palace and with no fresh injury problems to report, United will only be without three players for tomorrow’s game as Bastian Schweinsteiger, Luke Shaw and Adnan Januzaj continue their recoveries.

van Gaal told the clubs website:

“[We have] no injury problems, only the players who are injured already for a long time – Schweinsteiger, Shaw and Januzaj. I think Herrera shall come back.”

We’ll have to wait and see whether Herrera gets a recall to the starting eleven but one player who is expected to line-up against the Eagles is Marcus Rashford with van Gaal confirming he’s been mindful to protect the youngster recently to keep the in-form striker fresh.

van Gaal continued:

“I changed him [Rashford] after 70 minutes, I believe, and that is also to give him a little bit of rest. He didn’t train the day after and also the day after that he didn’t train.

“I want to keep him fresh because he is in the momentum of scoring and that is very important for him but also for the team. That is why I don’t rotate him.”

Rashford scored the only goal as United beat Villa at the weekend and that came after he scored another excellent strike against West Ham, making it seven goals in his last 12 appearances, so it’s understandable that he’ll keep his place tomorrow night.

United go in to the game sitting just four points behind the top four so van Gaal will be demanding a win over Palace to see them cut Arsenal’s advantage to just a single point.