Manchester United will be seriously short of strike power when they face Chelsea in the FA Cup on Monday night if their travelling party on Sunday afternoon is any indication.
Forwards Wayne Rooney, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial were among the players missing when Jose Mourinho’s side boarded the train for their trip to London.
Rooney was hurt in a training ground clash with defender Phil Jones and will miss out on his chance to return to the starting line-up in the absence of suspended Zlatan Ibrahimovic, writes Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News.
Photographers for the MEN said a 20-man squad boarded the train, minus Rooney, Rashford and Martial.
Rashford is believed to be unwell while Martial is injured.
This leaves United with a unique dilemma which could see Henrikh Mkhitaryan or Marouane Fellaini start in a central role.
Luke Shaw made his first Premier League start in over four months against Bournemouth last week but did not travel to FC Rostov for the Europa League round-of-16 first leg in midweek. He boarded the train to London with teammates on Sunday.
United have a wretched record at Stamford Bridge and will be without Ibrahimovic as he serves the first of a three-match domestic ban for elbowing Bournemouth defender Tyrone Mings.
Chelsea is the first of three games in three competitions within a week for United but Mourinho has promised to field a strong side.
“We have three days and we have to travel,” Mourinho said ahead of the game. “We have to go to London. It’s really hard. We don’t have Zlatan, of course not, but we go with everything we have. We don’t put a [weakened] team out like some clubs sometimes – Manchester United cannot do that.
“We know this Europa League is very important for us, and the FA Cup is beautiful. We cannot go there with a [weakened] team, we’ll try to manage it within our squad and get a good team to compete with them.
“Manchester United is Manchester United, it’s the winner of this competition. It’s not Chelsea’s fault we were given this Monday match. We’ll make changes, as we played on Thursday, but we cannot go to Chelsea with a [reserve] team.”
Although Ibrahimovic is unavailable through suspension Eric Bailly could return after he was banned for the midweek Europa League first leg at Chelsea.
“We want to keep two doors open,” Mourinho added. “We have to keep getting points in the Premier League to keep our chances open and if we get through the knockout round here, we’re in the quarter-finals and feel the door is open, so we have to try.
“We have a trophy in our pocket, which is a good feeling for everyone. Now we have the Premier League for the fight for the top four and we have the Europa League fight for Rostov.”
Mourinho beat Chelsea on his first return to Stamford Bridge with Inter Milan seven years ago but was humiliated by his former club with United in that 4-0 October drubbing.
“Chelsea? It’s no different,” he said of returning to his old stomping ground. “Obviously before the game and after the game, I’ll meet some fans and some people I like. The relation with the fans was always good.
“But, for me, it’s just professional.”
United have won just three times at Chelsea this century and their last success came in Sir Alex Ferguson’s last campaign.
Elder United supporters will have fond memories of Cup ties with Chelsea in the 90s. Ferguson presided over a 4-0 thrashing in the 1994 Cup final and David Beckham sent United to Wembley on the Villa Park sandpit in the 1996 semi-final.
United demolished Gianluca Vialli’s pretenders 5-3 in the third round in 1998 and a memorable Dwight Yorke double sealed a quarter-final win the following year.
[Mirror UK]
