United hope to maintain a positive trend ahead of their Champions League clash against Sevilla especially with Lukaku being on fire at the moment following his brace in the FA Cup on the weekend vs Huddersfield.
Hopefully, Mourinho’s boys will have a fairly easy game as the Spaniards might be focusing on their domestic competition rather than European trophies. They are now 5th in La Liga just below 4th place meaning that they might not qualify for next year’s Champions League if they are not careful.
On the other hand, Sevilla’s lack of focus could be equalled by Manchester United’s unfortunate injury-hit squad which is now counting 8 important players side-lined.
Fortunately, there is hope at least 3 of the 8 injured players will return by Wednesday. As things stand this is how the injury list looks:
Phil Jones -unspecified knock – picked up an injury on the 15th and has no return date set. He can be considered an important absence as he has been a team regular throughout the season. He will not play in the Champions League it seems.
Daley Blind – Ankle Injury – the Dutchman has been out trying to recover from his injury for almost a month with little hope of returning this week. He is expected to be back at the end of the month or maybe early March.
Marouane Fellaini – Knee Ligament Injury – this has not been a good season for Fellaini who seems unable to shake this knee injury. He has been in and out of the physio room and is now expected to return at the beginning of April.
Marcos Rojo – unknown knock – just picked this up last week and has no return date set. He is deemed unavailable by the medical staff though so there’s a very slight chance of seeing him on the pitch against Sevilla.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic – Knee Injury – out since December, the Swedish superstar is likely to miss both games against Sevilla. Knowing his personality, he is expected to want to be featured in at least one more Champions League game before he leaves United. Maybe he will be an extra bit of motivation for the team to go through to the quarter finals by overcoming Sevilla.
Ander Herrera – Muscle Strain – out for 2 weeks now, is expected to be available for Champions League night. Not sure he will be 100% fit so he might not be on the pitch the full 90 minutes.
Paul Pogba – Illness – reported on Friday, Pogba’s status is unclear. He should be fit to play against Sevilla as he returned to training after the Huddersfield game. His form is a bit worrying though so he might not be featured a full 90 minutes either.
Marcus Rashford – Muscle Injury – picked up the injury at the beginning of the month. Rashford is expected to be available for the Sevilla game and he could play a role coming off the bench.
Sevilla have 5 injuries: Joaquin Correa, Ever Banega, Nolito, Simon Kjær and Sébastien Corchia out of whom Nolito and Kjær are doubtful for this Wednesday.
Despite all the squad problems, United are favoured to win and they will be hoping to make a positive start in the first leg.