Man Utd boss offers injury update on duo – 5 players to miss Watford trip

Manchester United will be looking to close-in on the top four with a win over Watford at Vicarage Road on Sunday afternoon.

Ahead of the game, boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference today and he’s provided a team news and injury update including the latest on the fitness of Paul Pogba and Diogo Dalot.

Pogba has been restricted to making just six appearances for Man Utd this season due to a troublesome foot injury and the midfielder hasn’t featured sine the 1-1 draw with Arsenal back in late September.

The Frenchman has been stepping up his rehabilitation at Carrington in recent weeks and after missing a few days due to illness last weekend, Solskjaer says Pogba is back training with the rest of the squad.

However, the 26-year-old won’t be in contention to face Watford this weekend as he’s still got to build-up his fitness before he’ll be available for selection and Solskjaer gave no time-scale over when he felt Pogba would be back in the squad.

Dalot has also endured a nightmare season that’s been hampered by a serious groin injury which has restricted him to making just 3 appearances but the defender is now on the road to recovery.

Solskjaer confirmed Dalot will play in an Under-19s friendly against AC Milan tonight as he looks to build-up his match fitness but obviously he won’t be involved with the first team on Sunday afternoon.

Elsewhere, Eric Bailly and Tim Fosu-Mensah have been in full training recently as they look to return from a serious knee injuries while Marcos Rojo is close to recovering from a muscle issue but none of the trio are expected to feature against Watford.

With five players missing, Solskjaer says he’ll have a similar squad available to the League Cup win over Colchester in midweek and he feels his squad is in good shape as we head into the hectic Christmas and New Year period.

He told ManUtd.com:

“I feel the squad is ready for it. We’re physically ready for it and, mentally, we’re in a good moment as we’re getting some decent results.

”The fitness of many players, they’re coming back and we’re getting more and more competition for places.

“It’s important and why we’re rotating. We’re getting players back in training and it’s, more or less, a full squad training now. That’s good to see. Who is match fit and who isn’t is a different scenario.

“Diogo is playing tonight and getting more game-time, to get more and more ready. Paul [Pogba] is training. He’s back in with the team so we’ll see how long it takes for him to feel ready to be part of a game.”

“It’s a similar squad to what we’ve had the last few weeks.”

Manchester United head to Vicarage Road sitting sixth in the Premier League table and just four points off fourth-placed Chelsea so Solskjaer will be looking to maintain the pressure with a win over Watford.