Man United Phil Jones
Man United Phil Jones

Man United take on Manchester City in the EFL Cup semi-final on Wednesday and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has labelled two players as absentees.

The first miss will be summer signing Edinson Cavani who is still serving his domestic ban handed out by the FA. And the second one will be defender Phil Jones who’s on the sidelines with a knee injury.

“We’re disappointed not having Edinson involved,” said Ole, as per the club’s official website.

“But he’s probably the only one not [available] and, of course, Phil Jones has been out for a long time. They’re the only two not available for selection, which is a good position to be in.”

“We’re confident. We’re going into the game in good form so there’s no excuses. The squad is focused and we’re ready to give it a go. We’ve prepared well for this game.”

Jones has not been a part of the Man United first-team squad since ages so he won’t be a big miss on Wednesday but Ole could have really used the services of Edinson Cavani vs Manchester City.

The absence of Cavani means the Man United boss will not be able to rest the forwards like Rashford and Anthony Martial.

 

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But the good news for the Old Trafford side is the fact that Victor Lindelof has recovered from his lower back injury and will be available for selection in midweek.

Eric Bailly has done a superb job in central defence over the past few games and it will be interesting to see if the manager opts to rest Bailly vs City and use Lindelof instead.

Purely based on performance, Eric Bailly should be an automatic selection for the semi-final but the defender has a bad habit of picking up injuries so there’s every possibility the manager could move him to the bench.

Read: Here’s how Ole Solskjaer is trying to make Man United the PL champions.

Read: 4-2-3-1 Man United’s predicted XI vs Manchester City.

Read: Man United might have found an ideal replacement for Cavani.

Read: Here’s how Manchester United can challenge Liverpool for the PL title.