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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confirms injury blow to 25-year-old star ahead of Partizan clash

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed that the club won’t be able to rely on the services of Victor Lindelof during Thursday’s Europa League meeting against Partizan Belgrade.

The 25-year-old picked up a knock during the recent League Cup clash against Chelsea but he was able to recover in time for the Premier League outing at Bournemouth last weekend.

However, ahead of the Partizan game, Solskjaer has revealed that the centre-back won’t feature against Partizan but remains optimistic over his return for the weekend Premier League encounter.

“No, Victor is out, so he won’t be available. Hopefully he can make the weekend but I’m not sure,” he was quoted as saying by the Red Devils’ official website.

Meanwhile, there are no injury comebacks for the Partizan clash but Solskjaer has revealed that the likes of Eric Bailly and Timothy Fosu-Mensah have started the initial training programme.

The duo have played no part for the club this season due to their long-term knee injury setbacks but Solskjaer has hinted that they could return by next month after featuring in a few games for the Under 23s.

Elsewhere, Solskjaer has provided an update on the fitness of Paul Pogba and he has said that the Frenchman is scheduled to make his comeback in early December as previously predicted.

“I think Paul said it himself, didn’t he?. It won’t be too long until he’s out of his cast and he’s going to work though the international break. Hopefully, we’ll have him back in early December,” he added.

Manchester United have accumulated seven points from their opening three group stage games in the Europa League and a victory over Partizan tomorrow would seal their progress to the knockout phase.

In the absence of Lindelof, both Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones could play at the heart of the defence, particularly if Harry Maguire is rested. Axel Tuanzebe continues to remain sidelined with a hip concern.