Jose Mourinho has confirmed that Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic will feature against Brighton & Hove Albion as they continue their comeback from injury.
Neither are fit enough to complete the full 90 minutes as of yet but the Portuguese boss will utilise the pair in Saturday’s Premier League encounter.
The 3pm kick-off welcomes the Seagulls to Old Trafford for the first time in the Premier League era and Mourinho also praised this weekend’s opposition in front of the media during today’s press conference.
“I think Chris Hughton has done a great job since he took over and we must focus on this match,” stated Mourinho.
“They are ninth in the table, good team, difficult to beat, don’t concede many goals.
“The opponent is going to be difficult for us.”
Injury news sees centre-backs Eric Bailly and Phil Jones ruled out for the third consecutive game but Pogba and Ibrahimovic will play a part on Saturday afternoon.
“We managed to give Zlatan 15/20 minutes in both matches, he needs more of that, so hopefully tomorrow we play him again.
“Paul is still on this process where he cannot reach the fatigue limit, he cannot go more than 65/70 minutes.
“With so many games, we need to protect such an important player for us.”
Sitting comfortably inside the top half, tomorrow’s visitors are on a five match unbeaten run.
Newly-promoted to England’s top division, this represents a fine start to life in the Premier League for the south coast club.
United have encountered mixed fortune against the other two newly-promoted sides, having come from behind to defeat Newcastle United 4-1 so impressively last weekend but suffered that infamous loss to Huddersfield Town last month.
Home comforts will hopefully play into United’s hands once more, having won all nine fixtures inside Old Trafford to date this season.
Keeping himself grounded, however, is the experienced manager, who recognises what is still early days to the current campaign.
“I always say to myself that we must have emotional balance.
“Emotional balance when we are doing very well, emotional balance when we are dong badly.
“We haven’t yet played 50% of the season, so let’s be calm.”
Such calmness will be needed once more on Saturday in the first of three consecutive league games in the space of seven days.
With testing trips to Watford and Arsenal to follow, bouncing back from Wednesday’s defeat in Basel is essential with a tightly-bunched chasing pack pursuing runaway leaders Manchester City.
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