Three players are missing for Manchester United as they prepare for Friday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie at Arsenal.
Interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is looking to continue his winning start which has seen United clock up seven wins from seven since he replaced the sacked Jose Mourinho.
This morning he confirmed that Alexis Sanchez would feature at some point against his former club but said three other players would not be making the trip to London. Sanchez suffered an injury in the FA Cup win over Reading recently and has been unavailable for the last two games. This will be the first time Sanchez has been back to the club where he scored 80 goals in 166 appearances since joining United last January.
Talking to MUTV, Solskjaer said of Sanchez: “He’ll be involved. I think he’ll love it if the crowd turn against him. As a player, pride kicks in and you think ‘I’ll show all of you’. He’s been fantastic in training, his attitude has been spot on so hopefully he’ll enjoy the game.”
Marouane Fellaini, Chris Smalling and Marcos Rojo all missed United’s 2-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion a week ago and all three will be missing again.
Solskjaer said: “Smalling has started training so hopefully he’ll be available maybe next week so it’s looking good for him. Fellaini and Rojo are still a bit away but we have a very good and talented squad.
“There are players there that need to play and have the quality to play. There will be one or two changes definitely.”
Arsenal also have injury concerns and will be without former United pair Danny Welbeck and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.