Manchester United Manager Jose Mourinho met the media a few minutes hours ago for his weekly news conference, and the session was very very short, but packed with important information.
Mourinho discussed injuries and re-classified the setback to Paul Pogba as “long term,” and in the same category as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcos Rojo.
“[Pogba’s] injured, he cannot play tomorrow,” the boss declared. “His injury is not one that I can have the hope like I can have with Valencia or Jones. With them, I have the hope to see them training and to have a positive answer [on their availability soon]. But with long-term injuries, I don’t speak about them, so Ibra, Pogba, Rojo and these players, I don’t think about them.”
It sounds like Pogba is doubtful for the epic clash at Liverpool on October 14, but we’ll see. Paul Pogba injured his hamstring Sept 12 in the UEFA Champions League opener vs FC Basel and hasn’t played since.
Elsewhere Mourinho revealed that both Michael Carrick and Phil Jones are not in contention for tomorrow. “They are out,” he said. “They were out [on Wednesday] and tomorrow some [players] will be out [too]. What I’m saying is that from all the injuries we had, I hope that I can have some players available for tomorrow.”
Mourinho Presser Video: go to this link
Odds: Oddschecker backs United at 2/11 to win, while setting odds for a draw at 15/2. The line for a Crystal Palace victory is now at 22/1.
Kickoff: 3:00 pm BST
MUFC Starting XI prediction: go to this link
Injury Report: go to this link
Prediction: Manchester United 3, Crystal Palace 0
As always, feel free to post your own score prediction, and starting XI prediction in the comments section.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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