Manchester United vs Sunderland - Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly likely to return

Posted Saturday, December 24, 2016 by PA

Manchester United should have Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly back for the visit of Sunderland on Boxing Day.

Armenian playmaker Mkhitaryan has missed the past two games with an ankle injury picked up in the win over Tottenham while centre-back Bailly (knee) was injured in the next game against Crystal Palace.

Boss Jose Mourinho confirmed full-back Luke Shaw is his only absentee at the moment due to a groin strain.

Meanwhile, Mourinho admits he has "bad feelings" about failing to give some members of his squad a fair chance to prove themselves to him.

A number of players, such as Memphis Depay and Ashley Young, have found themselves with restricted pitch time so far this season.

Mourinho pointed to a proliferation of personnel for specific positions as one of the reasons why some people have not been afforded a chance but said it is something which troubles him.

"I still have bad feelings towards myself as I didn't give a real chance to everyone," he told Sky Sports News.

"There are some positions in our sport where we have over-booking.

"The attacking wing positions we have not just a few wingers but also people who can play there: we can add (Marcus) Rashford and (Wayne) Rooney to players like (Jesse) Lingard, (Juan) Mata, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Memphis Depay, (Anthony) Martial and Ashley Young.

"To be honest people like Young and Memphis I didn't give them a run of matches for them to prove so I have this little bad feeling."

On-loan Sunderland winger Adnan Januzaj will sit out the clash with his parent club.

Januzaj is ineligible under the terms of his loan agreement, and will be joined on the sidelines by Jan Kirchhoff, who has undergone surgery for a knee cartilage injury which will keep him out for 12 weeks.

Defenders Billy Jones (hip) and Javier Manquillo (hamstring) and midfielder Steven Pienaar (calf) have returned to training, but the game could come too soon for them, and Lee Cattermole (hip), Jack Rodwell (hamstring), Lynden Gooch (ankle), Paddy McNair and Duncan Watmore (both knee) are still out.

Former Manchester United boss David Moyes has claimed the club has abandoned tradition in the wake of Sir Alex Ferguson's departure.

Moyes, who replaced his compatriot at the Old Trafford helm in May 2013, has since been succeeded by Louis van Gaal and Mourinho, while United have invested heavily in the transfer market in a bid to rekindle Ferguson's trophy-laden reign.

The Sunderland manager said: "Manchester United was a club with great traditions that they tended to pick British managers. That tradition has now gone.

"They are a football club who had traditions with the way they spent - they didn't try to compete with all the others clubs, they tried to do what they thought was the right thing to do and spend in the right way.

"I could say that's gone, so I think there have been a few changes at United, but that's the way they have chosen to go."

Moyes is hoping Sunderland can continue a recovery which has seen them win four of their last seven Premier League games.

He said: "We are in a good position because we have got ourselves back in it. We have won some games, which for a wee while we didn't look like doing, so we are back in fighting and we have got to keep doing that.

"We've got a difficult Christmas period - that's why the result against Watford was really important for us at the start of it last week.

"We go there knowing that Manchester United are beginning to find a little bit of form and we have to go there and try to stop them."