Man Utd ‘don’t have full-backs this week’ – Solskjaer

Ian Watson

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admits Manchester United are struggling to find a couple of full-backs to face West Ham on Saturday evening.

With Luke Shaw and Ashley Young both suspended for the Premier League clash, Solskjaer may have to bring Matteo Darmain and Marcos Rojo in from the cold to take on the Hammers at Old Trafford.

“We don’t have full-backs this week,” the manager told MUTV. “Not too many as we’ve lost Luke and Ashley through suspension. Antonio Valencia is still not fit. Maybe Darmian will be available for the bench and Rojo has been training for a while.

”He’s available and we’ve got Phil Jones, who could also play there. Rojo needed to get out on the big pitch [in the Under-23s against West Brom last Friday] so he could have that game but we’ve had a couple of practice matches so let’s see what we decide.“

Solskjaer also offered his take on Ander Herrera’s injury problems, but Nemanja Matic may return from illness to take on Manuel Pellegrini’s men.

“I doubt Nemanja is available because of his illness, maybe because he’s warrior and wants to join in and help his team-mates. Let’s see after today. He trained individually yesterday.”

There was better news – if you choose to look upon it that way – over Alexis Sanchez’s injury. The Chilean forward could be back for the trip to Barcelona next week.

“He is training with us,” Solskjaer said of Sanchez.

“He’s trained twice, trained today, I’m not sure if he’s going to be available. He’s injury free but we’re not sure 100 per cent for tomorrow, maybe more likely for Barcelona game. Let’s see.”

“I’ve still got options of course to rest one or two because there are games coming up and they’ll all play a part. We had players on the bench on Wednesday night like Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial who normally start games. There will be a couple of changes. Let’s see what we’ll decide on.”