Man Utd boss confirms double injury boost ahead of Aston Villa & Tottenham games

Manchester United will be looking to close in on the top four with a win over Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon.

Ahead of the game, United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has provided a team news and injury update including the latest on the fitness of midfielders Scott McTominay and Paul Pogba.

McTominay hasn’t featured since suffering an ankle injury during Man Utd’s 3-1 win over Brighton earlier this month and he’s been forced to miss the games with Sheffield United and Astana.

However, Solskjaer says the Scottish international is on the verge of making his comeback and if he isn’t passed fit to face Villa on Sunday, the United boss hopes to have McTominay available against Tottenham on Wednesday night.

In a double boost, Solskjaer also confirmed that Pogba is set to return to training as the Frenchman looks to make his comeback from a niggling ankle injury that’s kept him on the sidelines since September.

Pogba is stepping up his recovery work and although he won’t be available to take on Aston Villa this weekend, Solskjaer hopes to have him back soon as the midfielder will be like a ‘new signing’.

Speaking following United’s 2-1 defeat to Astana in the Europa League on Thursday, Solskjaer told ManUtd.com:

“We hope Scotty will be back as soon as possible, but he’s also been back home and I’ve not seen him,” said the boss in his pre-match press conference, which was held in Kazakhstan. Maybe [he will be fit to face] Spurs but hopefully for Sunday.”

“Paul is stepping up his recovery and let’s see how soon he’ll be match fit and available. Of course, he’ll be like a new signing for us. He’s not really been able to play for us and, when we get him back, it’ll be like a new world-class signing and world-class midfielder.

“We want him back as soon as possible. Sunday? No. I can’t say now as I’ve not been home and seen him. Let’s see where he’s at when he comes back and he starts training with us.”

United’s injury list is slowly easing as Axel Tuanzebe and Luke Shaw both made their playing comebacks against Astana yesterday while Eric Bailly, Diogo Dalot and Tim Fosu-Mensah have all returned to training.

However, none of the trio are expected to be in contention to face Villa while Nemanja Matic is unlikely to feature this weekend due to a groin issue and Marcos Rojo is still out with a muscle problem.