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Manchester United without six first-team players for Chelsea clash

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said that there has been no significant improvement in the fitness of some of the players, who have recently returned to training after their respective injuries.

Scott McTominay and Axel Tuanzebe started with light training sessions during the warm-weather camp in Marbella but Solskjaer has confirmed that they are unlikely to feature against the Blues.

Similarly, Timothy Fosu-Mensah is out of contention with a minor quad muscle problem while Paul Pogba has just started his rehabilitation programme following his ankle surgery.

Marcus Rashford (back injury) and third-choice goalkeeper Lee Grant (unknown) are the other players on the sidelines and the duo are not expected to return to action until April at the least.

Speaking in the pre-match press conference, Solskjaer said: “I don’t think we’ll get anyone back for the Chelsea game. Because Scotty, Axel, Tim, they didn’t join too much so they’re not ready to play that game. And Paul is not ready, of course. How do we go about playing without Marcus, Paul, Scott? You deal with it.”

In the absence of McTominay, Nemanja Matic, who is available after his one-match domestic ban, should accompany Fred in the central midfield on Monday night.

Anthony Martial is expected to lead the line ahead of deadline-day signing Odion Ighalo, who will travel with the squad even though he has had no training sessions with his teammates.

Ighalo’s move from China has been the reason behind the precautionary measure and Solskjaer has indicated that he has yet to decide whether Ighalo will make the matchday squad to face the Blues.

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