Early team news for United v Brighton at Old Trafford

Ivory Coast international Eric Bailly is eligible to play once again after serving the three-match ban that was given to him for the red card he received against Bournemouth on 30 December. 

In his recent absence, Phil Jones and Victor Lindelof have both started every match together at centre-back and importantly kept clean sheets against Newcastle, Reading and Tottenham. Elsewhere in defence, Argentina international Marcos Rojo is still unavailable due to injury.

Meanwhile, it is hoped that Alexis Sanchez could return to the squad for Saturday’s 15:00 GMT kick-off against Brighton after the Chilean powerhouse was pictured training on Wednesday morning. 

Our no.7 missed the trip to Wembley Stadium last weekend because he was “not ready”, according to Solskjaer, who also said the player is “having a hard time” of getting rid of his troublesome injury. 

Young goalkeeper Joel Pereira was also involved in Solskjaer’s latest training session, after the Academy graduate returned from his loan spell at Portuguese club Vitoria Setubal last week. Judging by our photos, it looks like he was missed by his fellow stoppers David De Gea, Sergio Romero and Lee Grant.

Chris Smalling, Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba did not take part in the section of training that was open to the media, but that does not necessarily mean they are unavailable for selection at this stage of the squad's preparations for Saturday.

Solskjaer may provide an update on the squad when conducting his pre-match press conference at the Aon Training Complex on Friday, which you can follow live in the club’s Official App. 

Former United striker Giuseppe Rossi also took part in the training session, as he continues to build his fitness at the invitation of his old Reds team-mate Solskjaer. 

The Italian striker is currently without a club and Ole discussed his situation during Sunday's post-match press conference at Wembley Stadium.

“We’re not going to sign Giuseppe I think, no, but he’s trained well with us,” said Ole, before he revealed how Sir Alex Ferguson was impressed by his finishing.

“He looks sharp, he’s looking for a club so Giuseppe is probably going to stay with us for another week, unless someone takes him.

“He scored a fantastic goal yesterday [Saturday] in training. The gaffer [Sir Alex] turned around and said ‘what about that son?’

“It’s a bit of us helping him to get fit before his next move, so if there are any takers you should be quick!”

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