Solskjaer expects key man to be one of 5 players to miss Man Utd’s trip to Liverpool

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is not confident Marcus Rashford will be fit for Manchester United’s trip to Liverpool on Sunday afternoon.

Rashford came on as a substitute during United’s FA Cup third round reply win over Wolves on Wednesday night but he lasted just 16 minutes after picking up a back injury following a challenge by Matt Doherty.

The striker tried to continue after receiving treatment from the Man Utd medical team but he was eventually replaced by Jesse Lingard in the 80th minute and Solskjaer admitted after the game Rashford was a big doubt for the trip to Anfield this weekend.

Solskjaer has now provided another update at his pre-match press conference this morning and confirmed the club will do everything they can to get Rashford fit to face Liverpool.

The 22-year-old will be given every opportunity to prove his fitness, however, Solskjaer has admitted he doesn’t think Rashford will be ready to take on the European champions on Sunday afternoon.

The Manchester United coach told ManUtd.com:

“I can’t tell you now. As I said with Harry [Maguire] a few weeks ago, of course we’re going to give him the absolute amount of time to find out.

“We’re going to do some more checks and treatment with him today. Yesterday of course was just a recovery day anyway and some treatment for him.

“I haven’t seen him this morning, but I’m not going to hold my breath. I would probably think that he wouldn’t be ready, but let’s see. There’s still 48 hours, more than that, so let’s see.”

Rashford has been a key player for Man Utd this season as he’s provided 19 goals and 5 assists in all competitions so his absence would be a major blow if he’s ruled out of the trip to Anfield.

Solskjaer has a number of other injury problems to contend with as Paul Pogba remains on the sidelines after undergoing ankle surgery while Marcos Rojo is also still working his way back to full fitness.

Scott McTominay misses out once again due to an on-going knee injury and Axel Tuanzebe is still working hard to overcome a thigh problem that’s kept him out for the past month.

Manchester United have a further concern over Luke Shaw after he missed the Norwich game last weekend with a hamstring issue and Eric Bailly has only just returned to action with a run out for the reserves this week so Solskjaer has a lengthy injury list to deal with ahead of the huge showdown against Liverpool.