Man Utd team news: Solskjaer confirms key trio are injury doubts to face Man City

Manchester United will be looking to close-in on the top four with a positive result when they take on Manchester City at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon. 

Ahead of the Manchester Derby, United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has provided a team news and injury update including the latest on the fitness of Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James.

Maguire was forced to miss Man Utd’s 3-0 victory over Derby County in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Thursday night after picking up an ankle injury in training leading up to the game at Pride Park.

Solskjaer hopes the centre-back is able to make a swift recovery but the United boss admits Maguire is now facing a race against time to prove his fitness before Manchester City arrive on Sunday afternoon.

Wan-Bissaka sat out the win over Derby due to a back injury that he sustained during the draw at Everton last weekend and Solskjaer says the right-back will need to be assessed on Saturday to see if he’ll be able to return against City.

James has missed Man Utd’s last two matches with a muscle issue and the winger remains a doubt to face City on Sunday as he too will need to be assessed by United’s physio’s to determine whether he’ll be available this weekend.

Speaking on Thursday night, Solskjaer told ManUtd.com:

“Well, he’s [Maguire] touch and go because he rolled his ankle but, hopefully, he’ll recover quickly. I wasn’t going to rest him today, I didn’t give him a day off birthday-wise but I hope he’ll be fit.”

“I hope so, yes [Wan-Bissaka and James will be fit], but none of them have been training yet since the last game, so we’ve got to look at them on Saturday probably because [Friday] is a recovery day.”

It would be a big blow if United were to lose any of these three players as they’ve all been regular starters under Solskjaer this season. If Maguire misses out then Eric Bailly should continue alongside Victor Lindelof in the middle of defence.

Diogo Dalot is on stand-by to fill-in for Wan-Bissaka at right-back while Mason Greenwood or Juan Mata could start on the wing against Manchester City if James is once again ruled out.

Elsewhere, United will continue to be without the services of Paul Pogba as he’s still working his way back from an ankle injury while Marcus Rashford is weeks away from recovering from a back injury so Solskjaer has plenty of fitness issues ahead of the derby.