Jose Mourinho has confirmed Ander Herrera is definitely
unavailable for Manchester United’s highly anticipated Premier League
match against rivals Chelsea on Sunday.
The Spain
international picked up an injury in the early stages of the first half
during Wednesday night’s Champions League last-16 first leg at Sevilla’s
Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
The severity of Herrera’s problem
is yet to be determined and, as such, the manager does not know long
the central midfielder will be sidelined, but he will not feature at Old
Trafford this weekend.
"Ander is out," Mourinho said in his
press conference. "I don't know the final diagnosis but I know he'll be
out for a few weeks. I don't know how many is a few - two, three, four,
five, six weeks - I don't know, but a few weeks, for sure. Coming back
from injury - nobody else." No other players will return from injury
against Chelsea, according to Jose, which means Phil Jones and Marcos
Rojo are both still unfit for action, as well as Marouane Fellaini and
Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
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The France international was named on the bench against Sevilla, before
he replaced the injured Herrera after just 14 minutes. Mourinho was
asked about the player during the press conference on Friday.
"I
think he responded in a very professional way, both times he was on the
bench," Jose told reporters at the Aon Training Complex. "He was on the
bench against Huddersfield in the Premier League and he responded in a
professional way. He was on the bench in Seville and he did the same."
On the same subject, the boss also said: "You saw the game against
Sevilla - I think it's always more difficult to come from the bench than
to start. A player when he's starting the game has a different kind of
preparation for it and to come on even without warming up, in minute 15,
or minute 20, and to get into the pace of the game is not easy.
"I
think he had a very positive game for us and sometimes, details are
details, but sometimes players on the bench take five minutes to be
ready to play. They don't have shinpads, they don't have the strapping,
they don't have a shirt. He took 10 seconds to be ready to come to the
pitch, which showed the professionalism that he was ready to play and
help the team, which he did."