Jose Mourinho offers positive Manchester United injury update ahead of Crystal Palace clash

Mark Critchley
Northern Football Correspondent
Friday 23 November 2018 14:44 GMT
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Jose Mourinho in profile

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Jose Mourinho will be able to call on a fully fit Manchester United squad for Saturday’s meeting with Crystal Palace.

United were hit by several injury concerns before and during the international break, with Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Marouane Fellaini staying behind in Manchester.

Marcus Rashford subsequently limped out of England’s victory over Croatia, while Romelu Lukaku suffered a hamstring problem while on duty with Belgium.

However, Mourinho expects all five players to be available for selection this weekend. The United manager also confirmed both Martial and Fellaini will play.

“Martial stayed with us, he didn’t go to the national team,” Mourinho said, when asked for an update on United’s injury problems.

“The national team was aware of his problems and with permission he stayed, he worked really hard on that.

“I like to call that a pre-injury because problems in the muscles around it, they are a dangerous situation and he was in a pre-injury situation.

“He worked really hard, he’s ready for tomorrow, he plays for tomorrow. Is he ready to play three in a row in the same week? I don’t know, but the most important match is the next.

“Fellaini also stayed, no national team, they also let him stay in spite of playing 90 minutes against Manchester City.

“He needed to stay and prepare himself better after such an injury that he had before so Marouane is also good.

“And the boys in the national teams, Rashford came with a little problem but is ready, Lukaku is ready, I would say ready with a little bit of a risk but ready and Paul we knew with this break he would recover from that small muscular injury.

“We don’t have players I can say are out of the game tomorrow, we have a huge 23 group to choose for tomorrow.”

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