Connect with us

Manchester United

Man Utd could be given big injury boost ahead of Manchester derby

Manchester United return to domestic action on Sunday in the first Manchester derby of the season as we host our city rivals at Old Trafford.

Jose Mourinho’s side will be returning off the back of a 2-1 victory over CSKA Moscow in the Champions League that saw Luke Shaw put in a man of the match performance in his first start since April.

The Red Devils start the weekend eight points behind Premier League leaders Manchester City knowing we can’t afford to lose if we want to remain in the title hunt, and ideally need to win.

We could be handed a big boost on the injury front come Sunday as City playmaker David Silva has been ruled of their final Champions League group stage game versus Shakhtar Donetsk and is a doubt for this weekend’s showdown.

Silva has not travelled to Ukraine with the rest of the Manchester City squad for Wednesday’s game after feeling “uncomfortable” after the late 2-1 win over West Ham United on Saturday.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday, City boss Pep Guardiola said he was unsure whether David Silva will recover in time to face Manchester United.  He is quoted by Sky Sports as saying:

“David had a little bit of problems in the last minutes.

“We made a test after the game and I don’t know if he is able to play on Sunday, so that’s why he stayed there, to recover in Manchester.”

It sounds as though Manchester City are either not sure what the issue is with David Silva, that they are just taking precautions, or it’s simply mind games from the former Barcelona head coach.

Pep Guardiola is due to give an update at Manchester City’s pre-game press conference before Sunday’s game and at the very latest we’ll know an hour before kickoff whether David Silva has pulled through or not.

Should the Spaniard be absent it would be a big boost for us given that he is one of the top playmakers in the Premier League and is a big part of their attacking success so far this season.