Latest injury updates from Old Trafford:
Manchester United have have received a boost ahead of their fixture against cross-town rivals Manchester City as Wayne Rooney is set to feature on Sunday.
Rooney picked up a knock and was seen limping on Monday’s sponsors’ promotional event at Old Trafford. The knock was picked up in training and it was being reported that he suffered it on his foot. The injury follows a three-game ban that resulted when the United skipper lashed out at Stewart Downing in their game against West Ham a few weeks ago. The 29-year old was a big miss in his side’s draw against League leaders Chelsea last Sunday.
The England international trained with the rest of the squad this week and could even start the game against City. Rooney was in good form before being suspended as he had scored 3 goals and provided 2 assists in 6 appearances for the club. He has a fantastic derby record, so his return will be a sigh of relief for United manager Louis Van Gaal as well as the fans. He has a record 11 goals in derbies and was the only United player to score against City last season as their rivals did the double over them.
Falcao still a doubt
On the other hand, Radamel Falcao hasn’t yet recovered fully from the thigh injury suffered in training last week. Van Gaal had revealed earlier this week, “Falcao took a kick in training on Thursday and couldn’t play [against Chelsea] because of that. We’ll have to wait and see, but I don’t think the injury is too bad. The Chelsea match came too soon for him.”
Even if he does recover in time, it’ll be highly unlikely that he’ll start against City. The Colombian has missed the last two games in the Premier League, the 1st due to a jet lag and the 2nd due to the above mentioned injury. In terms of match fitness, the 28-year old hasn’t been sharp so far and after not being in action for more than 2 weeks, Van Gaal will not want to start with him, especially when they face their noisy neighbours.