Mourinho Injury Crisis: Man Utd Without At Least 6 First Team Players vs West Brom

Jose Mourinho is facing a selection crisis as Manchester United will be without at least six first team players against West Bromwich Albion this weekend, according to the Mirror.

United welcome the Baggies to Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon and they are short at the back with Phil Jones ruled out with a toe injury that he picked up during training with England last week.

Team mate Chris Smalling is also set to miss out this weekend after suffering a knee injury during the international break and the centre-back was spotted wearing a protective knee brace yesterday.

However, while Mourinho has problems in the middle of his defence, it’s central midfield that’s the real area of concern for the United boss as Michael Carrick is currently the only fit midfielder available for selection.

Ander Herrera is still serving his suspension following his dismissal against Chelsea earlier this month while Paul Pogba remains out with a hamstring injury that he suffered during the Europa League win over FC Rostov.

To make matters worse, the Mirror claim that Marouane Fellaini has also been ruled out of the West Brom clash after suffering a toe injury while on international duty with Belgium.

The injury is only thought to be minor but it is enough to keep him out of Belgium’s friendly with Russia tonight and Fellaini is also expected to sit out Saturday’s Premier League clash at Old Trafford leaving Mourinho with a selection headache in midfield.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is also still serving a suspension so it means United will be without six first team players but there is also a doubt over Wayne Rooney’s availability this weekend.

Rooney hasn’t played for almost a month due to a knee injury and he remains a doubt for the West Brom game but Mourinho may need to rush the 31-year-old back sooner than hoped due to his crisis in midfield.

Rooney played in a deeper midfield role last season and he may be deployed alongside Carrick against West Brom if he’s declared fit enough to play the full ninety minutes this weekend.

It’s certainly not the ideal situation for Mourinho as he looks to maintain United’s push for the top four with the Manchester giants heading in to the weekend action sitting fifth in the table.

The good news is they are just four points adrift of Liverpool with two games in hand so United will be looking to close the gap during a hectic April that sees them play nine games against West Brom, Everton, Sunderland, Anderlecht [twice], Chelsea, Burnley, Manchester City and Swansea.