Manchester United are unlikely to get a number of their injured stars back for the home match against Aston Villa according to manager Louis Van Gaal. Some of the players like Robin van Persie, Chris Smalling and Radamel Falcao continue to struggle for fitness.
As a result, United have not been held their full complement of players. Van Gaal has been showing in recent weeks while he is regarded as a great tactician. He has managed to overcome the disappointment of having keynames injured on the sidelines and has propelled United four successive victories in the league.
A fifth consecutive victory will see them overtake Manchester City – at least until Monday when Pellegrini’s team play against Crystal Palace – in the league. This will also spark hopes of a title with seven matches left after the tie at Old Trafford on Saturday. Villa will be an unknown quantity to United since they have been looking brilliant in the last few matches after the arrival of Tim Sherwood. The Red Devils had a comfortable victory over Villa in the reverse fixture, but it will be anything as comfortable this time around even though United are at home.Van Gaal has confirmed that the likes of Smalling and van Persie still need more recovery time.
“Smalling is ill – I don’t know if he is available. On Thursday he was at the medical department doing recovery and so on.Today he is not feeling well. It shall be difficult for him. Van Persie is still injured. We have a process. He has to go to the final football coach before he comes into my group and he is not there yet. He is still not in my group. But Luke Shaw is in my group. The top four is still a rat race. Can we still win the title? Mathematically, we can still do it,” said Van Gaal.