Man Utd Team News: Injuries, suspensions and line-up vs Everton

Everything you need to know ahead of the Premier League clash at Goodison Park on Sunday

While they secured progression to the EFL Cup semi-finals in midweek, Manchester United need to get their league form back on track on Sunday when they travel to Goodison Park to face Ronald Koeman’s Everton.

Jose Mourinho’s men have struggled to make the most of their positive performances in recent weeks, drawing their last four home fixtures in the Premier League, so they will be hoping that by heading on the road for only the second time in six weeks they can break up their run of poor results and get back to winning ways against a team they have previously succeeded regularly against.

However, the Toffees also need the three points having gone three games without a win following a decent start to the season.

United have finally received some positive news regarding their injured first-choice centre-backs Eric Bailly and Chris Smalling, with the Ivorian back in training this week following the knee injury he sustained away to Chelsea in October. And while Jose Mourinho has refused to answer questions related to Smalling’s progess, the England star is expected to be pushing for contention in the near future.

Elsewhere, Luke Shaw was withdrawn at half-time in the 4-1 League Cup win over West Ham on Wednesday with some fear that a knock may have been to blame for his under-par first-half performance. However, having not made the squad for the last three league fixtures following his withdrawal from the clash with Swansea City, the left-back is unexpected to gain Mourinho’s call even if fully fit for the Goodison encounter.

Aside from those defensive issues, Mourinho is expected to have a clean bill of health among his squad for Sunday’s match.

United welcome back Paul Pogba and Marouane Fellaini after the midfield pair served one-match domestic suspensions in Wednesday’s victory over West Ham United, and manager Jose Mourinho also returns to the sidelines after receiving a one-game ban and a £16,000 fine for booting a drinks bottle down the touchline in last Sunday’s league clash with the Hammers.

However, Wayne Rooney collected his fifth booking of the season in midweek and will miss the trip to his former club as a result. Rooney remains one goal shy of Sir Bobby Charlton’s club-record goals tally of 249 but could equal the milestone against Zorya Luhansk in Odessa on Thursday in United’s final Europa League group A clash.

Antonio Valencia has racked up four yellow cards so far this term, meaning a booking on Sunday would rule him out of the visit of Tottenham Hotspur seven days later.

Mourinho is expected to name a strong starting XI on Sunday, with the returns of Pogba and Fellaini helping to give him extra options. The Frenchman should come straight back into the starting XI, while the Belgian could well find himself named among the substitutes.

Positive performances from Anthony Martial and Henrikh Mkhitaryan against West Ham in midweek could see the pair given the nod to fill the wide attacking positions, with Juan Mata returning in the No.10 role in the absence of the suspended Wayne Rooney.

At the back much depends on the injury status of Bailly. Should he do enough on the training pitch before Sunday to prove his fitness, he could return at the heart of defence although at the time of press it appears likely that Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones will continue as the centre-back pairing.

Having blazed a trail at the start of the season, Everton have hit a road block since a five-match winning run was brought to an end by Championship side Norwich City in the League Cup at Goodison Park.

Since then, Koeman’s men have won only one of nine fixtures, with chastening defeats to Bournemouth, Burnley, Chelsea and Southampton punctuating their recent form. Romelu Lukaku remains a real threat for Everton, while Arouna Kone and James McCarthy are both back in training and could be in contention for returns. Mo Besic is still out, with his cruciate ligament injury likely to keep him out for another two months or so yet.

One thing in Koeman’s favour is the lack of suspension issues for his side, but a win would not go amiss for a side whose poor recent form has seen them fall to seventh place in the table, one place behind United.

• Everton have lost four of their last five meetings with Manchester United in all competitions (W1), with the most recent of those defeats coming in the FA Cup semi-final last season.
• Manchester United have won at Goodison Park on 15 occasions in the Premier League; at no other away venue have they won more often in competition history.
• The Toffees have won three of their last four Premier League games against the Red Devils at Goodison Park (L1); this after winning just three of their previous 20 in the competition beforehand.
• Romelu Lukaku has played for Everton on six occasions in the league against Manchester United without scoring; his most against one team without finding the net for the Toffees.
• Zlatan Ibrahimovic now has seven Premier League goals this season for Manchester United; more than twice as many as any other Red Devils player (Mata and Rashford – three goals).

The game gets under way at 4:00pm UK time, with national TV coverage provided on Sky Sports 1. The referee will be Michael Oliver, who last took charge of United in their 3-1 loss to Watford in September.