Manchester United will endeavour to get right back to winning ways in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon against a resilient Stoke City team who are always a tough nut to crack at home even with0ut a fully-fit squad to choose from.

On this occasion however, Stoke City have a number of injuries to contend with, including long-term casualities. Their current injury list looks like this:

• • Irish international forward Jonathan Walters is out indefinitely with a knee injury and his return date is a long way off.
  • American international midfielder Geoff Cameron has a MCL knee ligament problem which he is recovering from but is not expected back on the pitch until approximately February 26, 2017.
  • English international goal-keeper Jack Butland who was in such great form for both club and country before his injury and has been out since he injured his ankle playing for England last season in March in that stunning 3-2 friendly victory, the 3 Lions pulled off against the German World Champions. Butland is still recovering from the ankle break he sustained and after suffering a number of set-backs in his rehab he is not due back until to around February 26, 2017 like his team-mate Geoff Cameron.
  • Irish international midfielder Stephen Ireland is recovering from a very nasty leg break and is almost there but still is not expected back until February 6, 2017.

• Last but not least the good news for Stoke City is that highly skilled former Barcelona player and Spanish international forward Bojan could return in time for the United clash as he faces a late fitness test on his hip injury and could indeed return to provide a much needed spark upfront for the Potters. Whether Mark Hughes is willing to risk Bojan so soon after the injury is a different story but he is one of the highly skilled players in the Stoke squad who could turn the game with one bit of sublime skill so you can expect him play at least as a late sub if the game is in the balance and Stoke have a chance to claim a point or points. So Bojan has the potential to be the key man for the Potters.

From the United side of things, the team are in the best injury situation they have been in ages as despite the obvious aches and pains amongst the squad the only serious injury is to young forward James Wilson who was recalled from his loan with Derby County after sustaining a most troublesome ACL knee injury which means he will not be back this season and his return depends entirely on how well his rehab goes. We can only wish the youngster the very best of luck and that he suffers no set-backs as he works to get back to fitness. Our injury information is courtesy of the very fine site The Physio Room and was accurate at the time of writing.

So given the injury problems faced by each squad the Manchester United team clearly have the advantage in a big way being able to pick from an entire squad whereas Mark Hughes has a number of players who are completely unavailable and makes his job a lot harder. However, knowing the canny Hughes he will have a few tricks up his sleeve and will no doubt pose Jose Mourinho plenty of problems despite his injury absentees so the United boss will know only too well that he will need his charges playing at their very best or they could easily return from the Britannia without any points.

We still stand by our prediction of yesterday and we expect United to come through a tough, tight encounter by a 2-1 scoreline as the club get back to winning ways in the League and hope to gain some more ground on the 5 teams above them.

Jose will likely stick with Zlatan, Mkhitaryan and Mata as the main goal threats plus utilising Rashford for his pace out wide and may put Rooney on late if they need a goal as the United captain still only needs one more goal to claim Bobby Charlton’s all-time United club goal-scoring record.