Man Utd Team News: Mourinho Confirms Double Injury Blow + Zlatan/Pogba Updates

Manchester United will be looking to bounce back from their Champions League disappointment when they entertain Brighton at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon.

Ahead of the game, Jose Mourinho has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference today and he’s provided a team news and injury update.

The United boss has confirmed a double blow with the news that Phil Jones and Eric Bailly have failed to recover from their injuries and will miss the visit of Brighton tomorrow.

Jones has missed the last two games against Newcastle and Basel after suffering a thigh injury while away with England during the international break and the centre-back will once again miss out this weekend.

Bailly hasn’t featured since the defeat to Chelsea at the start of the month due to a niggling injury and the Ivory Coast international has also been ruled out of the Brighton game tomorrow afternoon.

It means Mourinho will have to choose between Chris Smalling, Victor Lindelof and the fit-again Marcos Rojo as his central defensive pairing this weekend.

Mourinho also provided an update on Zlatan Ibrahimovic and says the striker is still not fit enough to play the full ninety minutes after only recently returning from a serious knee injury.

The 36-year-old has featured during the final stages of recent games with Newcastle and Basel and Mourinho is hoping to give the striker another run-out against Brighton tomorrow.

There was also an update on Paul Pogba and the United boss says the midfielder is still not in a position to complete the full ninety minutes as he continues to work his way back to full fitness.

Pogba only recently returned from a hamstring injury and has been substituted in each of the last two games so it sounds like the Frenchman will also be withdrawn in the second half against Brighton.

The United boss told ManUtd.com:

“They are out [Jones and Bailly]. But we are okay because we have Smalling, Rojo and Lindelof.”

“I prefer him [Ibrahimovic] on the pitch than off the pitch. On the pitch he’s another option for us and he’s an option of quality. His physicality and his intelligence, the way he moves, the way he plays.

“But he needs time. We managed to give him 15/20 minutes in both matches, he needs more of that, so hopefully tomorrow we play him again.”

“Paul is still on this process where he cannot reach the fatigue limit, he cannot go more than 65 to 70 minutes because that’s when fatigue normally arrives and with so many matches consecutively we need to protect such an important player for us.”

United head in to the weekend action sitting second in the Premier League table but they are eight points adrift of leaders Man City so Mourinho will be desperate to close the gap with a win at Old Trafford tomorrow afternoon.