Man Utd Handed Double Fitness Boost Ahead Of Liverpool Clash

Manchester United have been handed a double injury boost with Luke Shaw and Henrikh Mkhitaryan both in contention to return for Monday night’s trip to Liverpool, according to the Mirror.

Shaw has missed United’s last five matches in all competitions and was declared unfit for England’s World Cup qualifying double-header against Malta and Slovenia during the international break.

However, the defender has been training hard at Carrington to build up his fitness over the past two weeks and the Mirror claim that the 21-year-old could now make his return at left-back on Monday evening.

In a double boost, the newspaper also suggests that Mkhitaryan is set to return to the squad after missing the last six matches in all competitions due to a niggling thigh injury that he suffered while away on international duty in September.

The playmaker withdrew from Armenia’s World Cup qualifiers last week in order to remain in Manchester and work on his fitness and it looks like the former Borussia Dortmund ace is now going to be in contention to face Liverpool.

It means that Jose Mourinho has virtually a full-fit squad to choose from for the trip to Anfield with Phil Jones expected to be the only absentee as he continues to nurse a knee ligament injury.

All 17 players who represented their countries during the international break have returned unscathed while Sergio Romero, Marcos Rojo and Antonio Valencia were back in training today following their exploits in South America so they’ll have plenty of time to recover.

Chris Smalling, Ander Herrera and Matteo Darmian will be fresh as they were unused by their nations during the international break while the likes of Juan Mata, Morgan Schneiderlin, Michael Carrick and Zlatan Ibrahimovic enjoyed some time off as they weren’t in action for their countries.

As for Liverpool, they were handed a double boost with Nathaniel Clyne and Dejan Lovren able to train on Wednesday but Adam Lallana and Gino Wijnaldum are both still doubts.