Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho met the media today for his weekly news conference, and during the session he gave an injury and fitness update on his roster of players. In November, Zlatan Ibrahimovic returned from a seven month spell on the sidelines due to a very serious knee injury that he sustained in April.
The issue was re-aggravated over the festive period, but he could be returning to training by the end of this month or early next month. He is certainly out for the Premier League clash on Monday against Stoke City.
Mourinho said: “Zlatan is injured, or is not totally happy with his condition. He fought like a tiger, like he likes to say, to be back, which he did. He was starting having minutes here and there, he had a start, he had 60 minutes of one game and started another one, and had 45 [minutes], and he was not happy with his feelings.”
“He consulted other doctors and other opinions, and we all made the decision to stop treatment. When he’s feeling really good, he can come back to work. The date for him to be back to training with the team was around the end of January or beginning of February, so let’s hope his feelings are better and we have him as soon as possible.”
During the long lay off in between fixtures, United were able to jet off to Dubai for some warm weather training. The business trip went rather well for all involved.
Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard even had the opportunity to feed a white tiger cub, from the bottle.
Antonio Valencia and Michael Carrick both returned to full training in Dubai, but we’re still in wait and see mode regarding a possible return to action in this one. Valencia is the much more likely of the duo, as he seems to be recovered from a hamstring injury that’s kept him on the sidelines since the December 17 win at West Bromwich Albion.
Carrick has been out of action since the League Cup versus Burton Albion. The team captain has been out of commission due to an irregular heart rhythm that required a procedure called a cardiac ablation. Defender Eric Bailly remains a long term injury absentee.
Other than all that, United are in pretty good shape for this league clash.
MUFC Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Odds: Stoke City– 19/4, Man Utd- 1/5, Draw- 14/1
Prediction: United 3, Stoke City 0
As always, feel free to post your own Man United and/or Stoke prediction, as well as your forecast for the final score.
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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