Home » Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard could return for Liverpool clash

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard could return for Liverpool clash

by Leo Nieboer

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard both stand a chance of playing against Liverpool on Sunday.

The pair, so crucial to Manchester United’s resurgence under Solskjaer, both picked up muscle injuries within minutes of each other during last week’s 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint Germain.

It was claimed by Solskjaer ahead of the 2-0 win over Chelsea that both players could be out for up to three weeks, seemingly ruling them out of the meeting with Liverpool.

But the Norwegian, speaking in a press conference on Friday, had some good news: Martial is likely to play, while Lingard’s return is less likely but still possible.

“We’re looking okay,” he said. “I hope Jesse will be okay, more hope than think. Anthony will be okay, but we’ve got a few more days.”

“So they’ve got to get through these two sessions, they’ve not been part of it yet but they have been doing some recovery work. Anthony’s was a different muscle, so we think he might be ready and hope Jesse will.

“Every single player has the attributes to give us something and the way we played against Chelsea shows we can manage without them as well. We’ve got options, it’s a big squad, good players, everyone’s eager and they want to play in this game, some have not played so much if they get a chance in this game it’s a chance to step forward so if they don’t make it we might have the same team against Chelsea.”

This will be a decision Solskjaer makes at the last minute. Lingard appears to be an outside chance but Martial, who knows about big goals against Liverpool, could well be used on the left hand side, with Paul Pogba supporting him down that channel.

At the same time, perhaps the notion that Martial, as of Friday morning, was yet to train properly with the team means he will only be able to feature from the bench. It would be the perfect time for the youngster to score another spellbinding goal after coming on late in the same.

Latest Top Stories...