MANCHESTER UNITED will be without Scott McTominay and Paul Pogba for Sunday’s game against Sheffield United – but Nemanja Matic should be fit to fill in.
McTominay and Pogba are both out due to ankle injuries, with the Scot out for two weeks and the £89million man ruled out until at least next month.
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But Matic is set to slot into the midfield alongside the resurgent Fred to give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a boost.
Luke Shaw and Axel Tuanzebe are also back from injury and have returned to training.
The defenders should be on the bench for the trip to Bramall Lane, but youngster Brandon Williams is likely to keep his spot, with Victor Lindelof joining Harry Maguire in the heart of defence.
Solskjaer is also set to continue with Aaron Wan-Bissaka at right-back, David De Gea in goal and an unchanged front-four.
That means Anthony Martial should lead the line, with Daniel James, Andreas Pereira and Marcus Rashford playing off the Frenchman.
But it was the news surrounding McTominay dominating the news on Friday morning.
The Scotland midfielder, 22, has also been ruled out of the game with Astana with Solskjaer eyeing up a return for one of the huge games against Tottenham or Manchester City.
McTominay has been struggling with an ankle injury after picking up a knock in United’s last match against Brighton – a 3-1 win.
McTominay looked in pain as he was taken off on a stretcher against BrightonCredit: Rex Features
Solskjaer told MUTV: “Scott will be out for a little while still.
“He has not been training with us, he is still recovering and hopefully we can see him, maybe around the time of Tottenham or City. We don’t know yet.
“He heals quickly, Scotty, but he is not going to be ready for Sheffield United or Astana, definitely.”
Meanwhile, Solskjaer gave a positive update on Paul Pogba – also sidelined by an ankle injury.
The Norwegian said: “Pogba is improving. Obviously he has been out and when you are in a cast for that long you do lose your muscle, so gradually you have to step it up.
“He has not started on his football work yet so it will be a little while before we see him.”
Man Utd were given a boost in training earlier this week after the return of Luke Shaw, Nemanja Matic and Axel Tuanzebe.
And Solskjaer hopes it will help them register another win this weekend, saying: “Of course it is always helpful when players are coming back and we have numbers in training.
“We shouldn’t expect too much of them because they have been out for a long, long time.
“Axel, the last game he played was Newcastle.
Scott McTominay is out for two more weeks with his ankle injuryCredit: Getty
“Nemanja was injured in the international break that week.
“Shawy, or Luke, has been out for three months now, more or less.
“At least they are training, training hard, so if we can give them some good game time then that will be good.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
