Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is hoping to welcome FIVE key players back from injury – including Paul Pogba and Edinson Cavani – ahead of make-or-break week for Manchester United in the Europa League and FA Cup
- Manchester United face a crucial week after beating West Ham 1-0 on Sunday
- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side face AC Milan in Europe then Leicester in the FA Cup
- United are set to welcome back five key first-team players for these two games
- Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani and Anthony Martial are all set to return from injury
- Donny van de Beek is set to return after being sidelined along with David de Gea
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer saw Manchester United kick off a big week by taking a major step towards Champions League qualification, then revealed that up to five of his stars are ready to return to action.
United’s 1-0 win over fifth-placed West Ham at Old Trafford on Sunday created a nine-point gap between the two clubs and went a long way towards securing a top-four finish.
Solskjaer’s side now turn their attention to Thursday’s Europa League last-16 second leg against AC Milan at the San Siro and next weekend’s FA Cup quarter-final away to Leicester before the international break, with the United boss hopeful that Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani, David de Gea, Anthony Martial and Donny van de Beek will be available.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is ready to welcome back five key first-team stars from injury next week
Edinson Cavani, Paul Pogba and Donny van de Beek (left to right) are three who could return
Pogba has missed the last 10 games with a thigh injury, Cavani and Van de Beek have had muscle problems, De Gea will return to training on Monday after self-isolating following paternity leave in Spain, and Martial missed Sunday’s win with a hip injury.
‘Injury-wise I hope we have four or five players back for that game (Milan),’ said Solskjaer.
‘It’s very likely that Edinson and Anthony are fit, Donny hopefully as well. Paul even might make the trip and David is back from isolation. That’s more numbers.
Anthony Martial (left) and David de Gea are expected to return in a crucial week for United
‘You could see today we even had two goalkeepers on the bench so we need them back.’
Looking ahead to what will be a key week in United’s season, Solskjaer added: ‘We want to improve on last season, get to a final and move up the table.
‘This week was always going be massive. We’re starting to build some momentum in the league, and we opened the gap further to West Ham which is important for us.’
The game was settled by a 53rd minute own-goal by Craig Dawson after United struggled to break down their opponents.
Manchester United scraped past West Ham on Sunday 1-0 thanks to Craig Dawson’s own goal
‘As expected, they are always going to make it hard for you,’ said Solskjaer.
‘We could have been more comfortable towards the end as we had a few decent chances to finish it off. We like to make it hard for ourselves.
‘In the first 15 minutes we gave the ball away every time we attacked. You have to not open up stupidly as you know they are a threat on the counter-attack so we kept composed and organised.
‘We created massive opportunities but the final pass or shot wasn’t good enough. It could have been two or three easily. But then it could have ended up in our net at the end as they are a threat.’
United face AC Milan in the Europa League this week before facing Leicester City in the FA Cup
West Ham lacked ambition until they went behind, and manager David Moyes admitted that his tactics didn’t work as planned.
‘The way we set up maybe didn’t quite work. We changed it a bit at half-time and again later on,’ he said.
‘We are upset. I’m not happy we’ve lost because I felt we had a chance to come here and put on a show. I don’t enjoy losing 1-0 which shows how far we have come.’
