Man Utd Team News Update: Mourinho Confirms Players Will Miss Liverpool Trip

Jose Mourinho has provided a team news update with nine players doubtful for Manchester United’s trip to Anfield to take on Liverpool on Sunday afternoon.

Mourinho claimed in midweek that he was forced to leave a number of players back in Manchester for their final Champions League group stage game as the Red Devils went down 2-1 to Valencia at the Mestalla.

David De Gea and Nemanja Matic were the only two first team regulars who were rested for the trip to Spain and United’s injury problems worsened after Marcos Rojo was forced off at half-time while Scott McTominay had to withdraw from the squad at the last minute after picking up a knock in training.

Anthony Martial missed the match as he continued to nurse a hamstring injury that’s hampered him in recent weeks while Chris Smalling is on the treatment table with a foot injury that forced him off against Fulham last weekend.

Diogo Dalot also suffered a knock against the Cottagers, Luke Shaw aggravated an injury in the warm-up before the game at Old Trafford while Matteo Darmian missed the match with an unspecified problem.

The seven players are doubtful to take on Liverpool this weekend and while Mourinho says they will all be assessed at training over the next 24 hours, he admits some are certain to miss the trip to Anfield.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference this morning, Mourinho is quoted as saying by the Manchester Evening News:

“The latest is to tell you again that in Valencia only De Gea and Matic were available to play and didn’t travel by decision. Apart from that, the players that didn’t travel were not fit to play in Valencia, all of them had injuries and they were not ready.

“All of them didn’t train yesterday again and today they will be a little, I don’t want to say [a] test, but a little introduction to training to see the answer, adaptation and to see if we can increase a little bit tomorrow to have them for Sunday.

“But for sure, I hope, is better not to say for sure, I hope some will be available but for sure some will not be.”

In addition, Victor Lindelof is expected to miss out as the centre-back continues to recover from a hamstring injury while Alexis Sanchez is certainly out as he’s still working his way back to fitness after tearing his hamstring last month.

We’ll have to wait and see how many of the other players are passed fit but it’s clear Man Utd have a number of injury problems to deal with as they prepare for the huge showdown with top-of-the-table Liverpool at Anfield this weekend.

United desperately need a positive result as they head in to the game sitting eight points off the top four in sixth place in the Premier League table so Mourinho will be praying for some positive news when his injury doubts are assessed.