Ander Herrera is set to return to Manchester United’s squad for Wednesday's game against Crystal Palace and manager Louis van Gaal has no fresh injury concerns following the weekend win over Aston Villa.
Herrera missed the 1-0 victory
that relegated Villa on Saturday after picking up a knock in the
Emirates FA Cup tie against West Ham United, but is back in contention
for the midweek Barclays Premier League clash at Old Trafford as the
Reds look to keep up the pressure on Arsenal and Manchester City.
Bastian Schweinsteiger, Adnan Januzaj and Luke Shaw remain sidelined, though the latter has provided a positive update on his recovery from the double leg break he sustained in September.
Van Gaal confirmed to MUTV:
"[We have] no injury problems, only the players who are injured already
for a long time – Schweinsteiger, Shaw and Januzaj. I think Herrera
shall come back."
Asked if Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against
Everton would impact on his selection for the league encounter with the
Eagles, van Gaal replied: "Of course, but that is the same with every
game.
"You know that you have to play matches and you know also
that some players have difficulties with the load of matches. You have
to rotate because of that.
"In the Premier League I have to
rotate much more than in another league, and that is also a consequence
of the high rhythm of the Premier League."
Marcus Rashford scored
United’s winner against Villa – his seventh goal in 12 first-team
appearances – before being replaced by Anthony Martial, and van Gaal
expects the 18-year-old to lead the line again on Wednesday after
allowing him two days away from training.
"I changed him after 70
minutes, I believe, and that is also to give him a little bit of rest,"
the boss continued. "He didn’t train the day after and also the day
after that he didn’t train.
"I want to keep him fresh because he
is in the momentum of scoring and that is very important for him but
also for the team. That is why I don’t rotate him."
On Shaw, who
revealed his return to outdoor training with a physio is going "really
well", van Gaal said at his press conference: "He's very positive, he's
doing great. He's training with the physiotherapist but he has to train
with the football coach and that hasn't happened yet."
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