Manchester United host Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday in Premier League action, and they will do so with possibly some major problems at centre-back. United manager Jose Mourinho ruled Phil Jones out ahead of the 1-0 loss at FC Basel in midweek UEFA Champions League competition and the status of Eric Bailly is in doubt.
“Our injuries are real injuries,” Mourinho said.
“Jones does not play tomorrow [against Basel] and I can say in advance he doesn’t play the weekend, too. [Chris] Smalling is playing all the time, and well, and tomorrow he plays again. We don’t have Jones, we don’t have Eric Bailly again, so Smalling has to play every match and well, that we can say.”
So Smalling is definitely in the first team, with the possibility of Bailly possibly being match fit in time for kickoff.
Michael Carrick remains very likely out of commission, but central defender Marcos Rojo made his long awaited return on Wednesday night, and he could be a factor in this one.
“Rojo played very well,” Mourinho said of the Argentine making his comeback.
“He could be playing a couple of weeks ago. We didn’t need to rush him. The first half was very easy, he had lot of the ball, he didn’t have to be physically demanding. He controlled very well his game, so I’m really happy.”
For Brighton, the only injury absentee is midfielder Steve Sidwell.
Odds: Man Utd 1/5, draw 6/1, Brighton 18/1
Jose Mourinho press conference video coming shortly. For the MUFC starting XI prediction, go to this link.
Prediction: United 3, Brighton 0
This will be the first every Premier League clash between these two clubs and the first of any competition since 1993. As always feel free to post your own MUFC starting XI and match score predictions in the comments section below.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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