- Mourinho confirms Man Utd will be without Phil Jones for Brighton game
- Bailly also misses out, posing defensive conundrum for United boss
- Pogba will be protected with a minutes restriction after recovering from injury
- READ MORE: Jose Mourinho sets sights on 58-goal marksman, Man Utd already in talks over target
Man Utd boss Jose Mourinho has confirmed that defender Phil Jones will be ruled out of Saturday’s clash with Brighton at Old Trafford.
Jones suffered a setback while on international duty earlier this month as he aggravated a hamstring injury, which in turn forced him to miss his first Premier League game of the season against Newcastle United last time out.
However, he hasn’t been able to recover this week, with freelance injury analyst Ben Dinnery noting in his tweet below, that Mourinho confirmed the setback in his pre-match press conference on Friday.
It will be a major blow for Mourinho, as while Man Utd have conceded just six goals so far this season, giving them the best defensive record in the Premier League, three of those goals have come when Jones hasn’t been on the pitch.
The latest came against Newcastle last weekend, while the Red Devils conceded twice after he limped off injured in the defeat at Huddersfield last month.
That in itself is a big indication as to how crucial he has been in the backline this season, and his absence will hurt United, although they’ll still be confident of picking up a positive result this weekend.
In addition, it’s noted that Eric Bailly also misses out and so Mourinho will have to consider his other options as to who starts.
As expected, Mourinho confirms Phil Jones will miss out once again. The United boss was hoping Eric Bailly could return to face Brighton, but Saturday comes too soon. Lindelof, Smalling and Rojo all vying for a place at centre-back. #MUFC
— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) November 24, 2017
Meanwhile, the Portuguese tactician also confirmed that midfielder Paul Pogba will be on a minutes restriction as Man Utd look to protect him having only recently returned from a long injury layoff.
The French international was sidelined since September with a hamstring injury before making his comeback against Newcastle, and so United sensibly don’t want to rush him too much in making a full recovery.
Mourinho suggested that he won’t play much more than 65 minutes for now, and with such a busy fixture schedule coming up ahead of the festive period and around Christmas too, the last thing he wants is to be without a leading figure in his side for a prolonged period of time again.
Pogba will start but won’t play much more than a hour: “Paul is still on this process where he cannot reach the fatigue limit, he cannot go more than 65 to 70 mins because that’s when fatigue normally arrives. With so many matches consecutively we need to protect [him].” #MUFC
— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) November 24, 2017