Ernest Hemingway once famously said: “the world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” Sounds like the state of Manchester United football club right now, and something their supporters need to hear, in order to try and keep their spirits up in these tough times.
United host their most hated of rivals, Liverpool, on Sunday and they’ll do so looking up 11 places in the Premier League table. LFC is perfect on the season and eight points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table, so 12th place United was going to have their work cut out for them, even if they had a fully fit squad, which they definitely do not.
On Wednesday, United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made it official- his side will be without their best player and MVP in goalkeeper David de Gea. They’ll also be without their most talented and expensive player in midfielder Paul Pogba.
“Paul had an injury, he came back, he worked really hard. He came back and played a couple of games, maybe played through the pain barrier,” Solskjaer said to Sky Sports.
“He had a scan after the Arsenal game and maybe needed a few weeks’ rest in a boot so hopefully he won’t be too long, but he won’t make this game, no.”
Pogba has missed three of the last four Premier League clashes due to his ankle injury, as well as international duty with France this fortnight, but he stepped up his rehabilitation in Dubai this international break and there was optimism he would be ready for the headliner fixture.
As for De Gea, he suffered an abductor strain last night in Spain’s Euro qualifier versus Sweden.
“David needs a scan,” the Norwegian continued. “I think he’ll be out. It certainly looked like it anyway judging on last night so it’s just one of those things.”
Liverpool at Manchester United: Sunday October 20, 4:30 pm, Old Trafford
Team News Articles: United Liverpool
Early match preview: go to this link
Odds: Liverpool win 4/5, Man United win 5/4
Google Result Probability: Liverpool win 55%, Man United win 24%, Draw 21%
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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