Man Utd Team News: Mourinho Confirms Fresh Injury Blow But Duo ‘Ready’ To Start

Manchester United will be looking to close-in on the top four with a win when they take on Bournemouth at Dean Court on Saturday lunchtime. 

Jose Mourinho has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference this morning and he’s provided a full team news and injury update ahead of the game with the latest on Antonio Valencia, Marouane Fellaini, Diogo Dalot, Alexis Sanchez and Jesse Lingard.

The United boss revealed a fresh blow with the news that Valencia has suffered a set-back in his bid to return to fitness after suffering a knee injury in training. The right-back has been missing in recent games due to a mouth problem and was hoping to make his comeback this weekend but it looks like Valencia is facing more time on the sidelines.

Fellaini has missed United’s last four matches after suffering a groin injury while away on international duty last month while Dalot has also been on the sidelines in recent weeks having picked up a knock while away with Portugal during the last international break and both players remain unavailable for selection this weekend.

However, Mourinho did have better news on the fitness of Sanchez as he says the Chilean international is now ‘ready’ to start after working on his fitness over the past week. The United boss claimed recently that Sanchez wasn’t 100% match fit but it looks like he’s now in contention to start against Bournemouth.

Lingard returned to the bench against Everton last week after taking longer than expected to recover from a groin injury that he sustained in late September but Mourinho has suggested the midfielder is now fit and ready to start if needed this weekend.

Mourinho told ManUtd.com:

“A very good week. We work tactically, we improve some fitness levels. We improve some of the players that were almost there but not there – Lingard, Alexis – these kind of players, that were already available but not yet at a good level. We trained with our kids too. They mixed with us on one of the days, which is an amazing feeling for them.

“Dalot and Fellaini are still out. The only one that went one step behind was Antonio Valencia with some problem in his knee. But Lingard and Alexis, now I can say ‘ready’.”

It will be interesting to see if Sanchez is recalled to the starting eleven tomorrow as Anthony Martial has performed well on the left wing in recent weeks and was named as United’s Player of the Month for October so the former Arsenal man may have to make-do with a place on the bench against Bournemouth.

United head in to the weekend action sitting eighth in the Premier League table – five points adrift of fourth-placed Arsenal – so Mourinho will be desperate to close the gap with a win on the South Coast tomorrow lunchtime.