Solskjaer: Alexis has a new lease of life

Our no.7 has been restricted to 14 appearances in all competitions so far this season because of a hamstring injury, which forced him to miss all eight of the Reds’ games in December.

Since his return to action, he has registered two assists in as many games in 2019 – in the 2-0 wins over Newcastle and Reading – before coming off in the second half of last weekend’s FA Cup victory over the Royals after appearing to aggravate his injury.

The forward will hope to be available for Sunday’s match against his former club Arsenal’s fierce rivals Tottenham at Wembley, where he has an impressive scoring record, having scored eight goals in eight career appearances. 

When asked at Thursday’s press conference about Alexis, Ole revealed he’s had conversations with the player and feels we’ll only see the best of him once he’s had a run of consecutive games to regain his fitness.

“Of course, he’s got high standards himself that you demand from yourself,” Solskjaer told reporters. “When it doesn’t work for you, as it clearly hasn’t and he’s had some injuries, then it’s difficult to suddenly click and put that confidence on.

“So [we’ve had] individual chats but, of course, it’s a fresh start for him with me and Mike [Phelan] coming in – it’s a new lease of life for him maybe. Hopefully we can see the best of him because he’s a top, top player.”

He went on: “We’ve had the issue with his injury – that’s been the problem here now. So he’s not really had a chance to prove himself or show what he can do and it will still take time before we can fairly say that Alexis is 100 per cent fit and he’s had many games on the run. Then we expect to see the best level that he can perform to.”

The Reds take on Tottenham in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon. MUTV will show live build-up from 15:00 GMT, ahead of kick-off at 16:30 GMT.

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