Man Utd Team News: Mourinho Confirms Double Boost But Trio To Miss Everton Clash

Manchester United could welcome Jesse Lingard and Scott McTominay back in to the squad this weekend but Alexis Sanchez, Marouane Fellaini and Diogo Dalot will miss the visit of Everton.

Lingard hasn’t featured for United since the Carabao Cup penalty shoot-out defeat to Derby County on September 25th due to a niggling groin injury that’s kept him out for the last five matches in all competitions.

Jose Mourinho has provided an update on the midfielder and while he’s admitted the injury has proven more difficult to overcome than first anticipated, the United boss says Lingard is edging closer to full fitness. The 25-year-old has been working hard in recent days to build up his fitness and could be back in the squad this weekend, with a final decision over his availability to be made on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters at his pre-match press conference this morning ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash with Everton at Old Trafford, Mourinho is quoted as saying by ManUtd.com:

“Yes, he [Lingard] came from the World Cup [with England] with that problem. He thought wrongly that the holiday period would bring things to normality. Then he thought wrongly that keep working or start working with the team would improve the situation and then he felt in an impossible situation to play football.

“So now he’s going back and doing the work to try to be 100 per cent [fit] and, in this moment, he’s almost there, because of the team’s needs.

“Can he help us in the next match [against Everton]? That’s the question we have to answer tomorrow [Saturday] or if we wait one more week and give one more week of stability to the work, so he can be back next week. So, he’s almost there.”

“With the effort of the players, the medical department and the fitness people, over the weekend we can recover one or two of them [our injured players] to at least be on the bench and to give us more options. Jesse is one of those that is possible.”

It was an expensive October international break for United as McTominay, Fellaini, Dalot and Sanchez all returned with injuries and Mourinho has criticised some of the countries for the way they handled the situations.

McTominay picked up a knee injury while away with Scotland earlier this month but Mourinho has suggested the midfielder is now back in contention for the visit of Everton, however, the other three remain sidelined.

Sanchez has missed the last two matches against Chelsea and Juventus with a groin problem and Mourinho says the Chilean international will remain on the sidelines this weekend as his physical condition ‘isn’t good’.

Fellaini is also carrying a groin injury that he sustained while away on international duty with Belgium while Dalot is recovering from a knock that he picked up while away with Portugal and both players will now miss the Everton game on Sunday.

Mourinho continued to ManUtd.com:

“We played against Newcastle and went to the national team period in a good situation and then, after two weeks, we lost Dalot in Portugal, Fellaini in Belgium, Alexis with Chile, McTominay with Scotland,”

“With some of them, the national teams were very professional with us and sent the players back so we could start the process early, but some of them weren’t and kept the players so we didn’t even know the dimension and the nature of the injuries. So when the players arrived here two days before [the] Chelsea [game], we have no idea of what is going on, but we have to deal with this and now we’re trying to resolve problems a little bit step-by-step. I think if Jesse can be available, it gives us some help. I think McTominay is in normal conditions and we have to wait for other players.

“In this moment, Alexis is struggling because he’s injured and came to the Chelsea match to try to help the team, but his physical condition wasn’t good and then he had to stop and wasn’t available for Juventus and he’s not available for Sunday. So now the point is to be physically in the best conditions.”

United head in to the weekend action sitting 10th in the Premier League table after drawing with Chelsea last time out so Mourinho will be looking to climb up the table and close-in on the top four with a win over the Toffees.