Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be without Paul Pogba and Raphael Varane when Manchester United face Watford today.
Luke Shaw, Scott McTominay, Marcus Rashford and Edinson Cavani are all doubts for the game after playing no part during the international break.
Ahead of the game, Solskjaer gave an interview to the club’s website where he offered an update on all six players.
He admitted he has no idea yet how long Pogba will be out for but the prognosis was a lot more positive on the other five.
“It’s one of those injuries,” said Solskjaer when asked about Pogba’s timescale for recovery. “How long is a piece of rope? I know that Paul, he’s working really hard, he’s determined to come back.
“He’s already started on the rehab and he wants to come back fresh and ready. If it’s two months, or six weeks or twelve weeks, I’ve got to tell you in a few weeks, when we can see how he’s healing.
“Raphael [Varane]’s improving, but he’s still a few weeks away. He’s working hard on his fitness and unfortunately, he’s got this injury now. But he’ll work diligently, and he does work diligently and he’ll be back soon.
“Scott [McTominay] has had a bad illness and a throat infection, he’s also trained the last couple of days. He’s looked bright and fit, to be fair. [Rashford and Shaw] have been part of the last couple of days of training.”
“They had different sets of protocols to follow and they have to tick them off before the doctor sends them to me.
“[Cavani]’s one of the doubts as well. Unfortunately before the City game, he had to pull out after more or less the last training session, and he didn’t feel right.
“He’s one that we assess every single day, he’ll contribute when he gets back in. If it’s this weekend or not, I can’t tell you.”
Solskjaer has a habit of playing players as soon as they are close to fitness, so there is every chance for all four of the doubtful players to be involved at Vicarage Road.
Solskjaer has to get his selection right in a game which he goes into under so much pressure over his future.
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