Manchester United Injury Update: Fellaini ruled out, Smalling could still make it

Manchester United Injury Update

Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal has revealed that his side will be without midfielder Marouane Fellaini for the upcoming clash against Newcastle United today. He did however say that Chris Smalling will have to pass a late fitness test in order to decide whether he will play or not.

The Dutchman said, “I don’t think so, I am sorry. Maybe Smalling. Fellaini is still not available.

“Smalling is a question mark – I have to look tomorrow, but it’s always like that.

“For a few players it [this period] is fun because they are recovering quickly, but you also have players who are not recovering so quickly, so I have to rotate. My problem is I have a lot of injured players. That is the problem with these matches in the coming weeks.”

Smalling picked up a groin injury a few weeks ago and is yet to recover fully. With Phil Jones and Jonny Evans fit, Van Gaal could bench Smalling even if the England international is passed fit as his side will play a good number of games in the next week or so. The other players who are still missing are Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera and Marcos Rojo. For Newcastle, Tim Krul, Rob Elliot, Mehdi Abeid, Siem de Jong, Rolando Aarons, Gabriel Obertan and Ryan Taylor will miss out.

For Newcastle, Tim Krul, Rob Elliot, Mehdi Abeid, Siem de Jong, Rolando Aarons, Gabriel Obertan and Ryan Taylor will miss out.

Blind back in training

United fans will be happy to hear that Dutch midfielder and summer signing Daley Blind has returned to training. Van Gaal usually wants his players to complete two weeks of training before they appear in an actual match, so Blind could feature come January.

United will fancy their chances against Newcastle despite the end of their six-game winning run which came to a halt last week against Aston Villa as the 10-men held on against Van Gaal’s side.

Since beating Chelsea, Newcastle have lost three games in a row and will look to bounce back against United today.