Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Solskjaer's team news for Leicester trip

Friday 15 October 2021 13:30

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has spoken to the press and provided some clues about the make-up of his Manchester United squad ahead of Saturday's trip to Leicester City.

It's United's first game for two weeks, although much of the squad have been kept busy over the last fortnight playing for their respective countries.

Luke Shaw, who had been struggling with injury and illness prior to the break, came through England's 1-1 draw with Hungary on Tuesday night but his fellow England defender Harry Maguire was not selected in the Three Lions squad, as a result of the calf issue he picked up during the defeat to Aston Villa.

Maguire has not been involved since, and fellow centre-back Raphael Varane suffered a groin problem while playing for France and will be out for a few weeks, meaning Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly are likely to feature in the East Midlands.

“Yeah, you know the international breaks are sometimes a time to cross your fingers and hope for the best,” Ole told reporters.

“Because as we see with Raphael, he’s got an injury, out for a few weeks, but then again Victor and Eric played in the internationals and got good game time so that was good for us.”

While Marcus Rashford is fit once more after recovering from shoulder surgery, the Reds are likely to be missing Fred and Edinson Cavani, who were involved in a South American World Cup qualifier in the early hours of Friday morning.

The former set up a goal for Neymar as Brazil beat Uruguay 4-1 to solidify their place at the top of the table, but given the meeting with the Foxes will take place at 15:00 BST on Saturday, the turnaround could be too tight for the pair to feature.

“With regards to Fred and Edinson, they played a full game this morning, half 1 it kicked off, so of course we’re not counting on them,” the boss added.

“We’ve got to give them the time to rest and recover, which of course you have to.

“They played well, and that was a good thing for us. They're not injured, so hopefully they can be involved again in midweek, for the Champions League [game versus Atalanta].”

LEICESTER TEAM NEWS

Long-term absentees James Justin (knee) and Wesley Fofana (ankle) are unavailable for the Foxes.

Nigerian midfielder Wilfred Ndidi missed Leicester's most recent two games with a thigh injury and is struggling to be fit in time.

Former United defender Jonny Evans has been training after injury and illness and, although he missed Northern Ireland's recent qualifiers, will hope to be involved against the club for which he made 198 appearances between 2007 and 2015.

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