Chris Smalling and Alexis Sanchez are both injury doubts ahead of Manchester United’s meeting with Brighton and Hove Albion this weekend, according to reports.
The English defender has not featured for Man United since pulling out of the starting XI with an injury ahead of the 3-1 defeat to Liverpool – the last game of Jose Mourinho’s reign.
Sanchez, on the other hand, featured recently against Newcastle United and Reading, but came off with a knock against the latter.
According to a report from the Manchester Evening News, Smalling is a strong doubt for the game, while Sanchez has a better chance of returning. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confirmed ahead of last weekend’s win over Tottenham Hotspur that the Chilean would return to training on Wednesday.
Neither player, even when fit, would breach the predominant starting XI under Solskjaer – the one seen against Cardiff City and then Tottenham – given the momentum and chemistry growing among those players.
Victor Lindelof, for one, looks irreplaceable, with one of Phil Jones and Eric Bailly featuring alongside him.
The front three of Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial feels impregnable to an even larger extent. Solskjaer has got the trio clicking in a way never seen under Mourinho, making Sanchez’s task of returning to favour a difficult one.