Man United travel to the Emirates on New Year’s Day to take on Arsenal in the Premier League and Paul Pogba was nowhere to be seen.
The midfielder missed the game against Burnley during the weekend which came as a surprise to many a people but speaking after the match, Solskjaer indicated that Pogba needed additional rest and should be fit to play against the Gunners.
“Yeah, I would think so,” Ole told reporters.
“When you’ve been out for such a while, it’s always going to take time to be 100 per cent. He just needed another day, probably, of recovery.”
But when the United squad travelled to London, the World Cup winner was not present with the squad which indicates that Paul Pogba will once be an absentee.
And this will surely be a big cause of concern for the United boss since Scott McTominay has also been ruled out of action with a knee injury.
This means that with both McTominay and Pogba out of action, it will be the pairing of Fred and Nemanja Matic who will play in central midfield at the Emirates.
And this could be a great tactical boost for Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta.
While Fred has been rock solid for Man United during the past couple of months but Matic has hardly played this season and surely the Gunners boss would want to target the Serbian during the match.
Matic is not known to be the paciest of players and this could be a key factor that helps the home side take control of the midfield region – something which they have failed to do repeatedly during the past couple of matches.
Arsenal have had a shaky defence this season which was once again left wide open against Chelsea so if they can manage to dictate the momentum due to the absence of Paul Pogba then surely, Arteta would be looking to pick up all three points.
