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Phil Jones could make his first Manchester United start since the November 5 defeat to Chelsea against Bournemouth tonight. The 25-year-old was a substitute in the weekend defeat to Manchester City but M.E.N. photographers did not spot
Marcos Rojo
as the United squad rendezvoused at The Lowry to prepare for their midweek home match.
Marouane Fellaini
, who has not played since the Brighton home win nearly three weeks ago, was also not spotted and there was no sign of
Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
The Armenia international lives in the city centre and often links up with the squad separately but has been dropped from six of the last seven squads by
United manager Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho admitted on Tuesday Rojo was a doubt for the visit of Bournemouth and
Jones or Victor Lindelof
are likely to replace him, with
Eric Bailly
still sidelined. During a prickly press conference on Tuesday which lasted five minutes and 50 seconds, Mourinho was reluctant to dwell on the dressing room fracas which escalated into a 15-man melee after the United manager confronted City about their supposedly unedifying celebrations. This press conference is pre-Bournemouth, it is not post-Manchester City," Mourinho said. "That was already done. And this press conference is pre-Bournemouth."
Reporter: But things have come out since we last spoke? Mourinho: "I know. But I keep saying that this is pre-Bournemouth." Reporter: How do you approach game in wake of derby defeat? Mourinho: "As always but when you lose, you probably have a little bit more desire to win. Nobody likes to lose once, nobody wants to lose twice. I think that’s something that belongs to every team in the world. When you lose a match the next one, you have that little bit of extra to give."
Reporter: Extra motivation because of Sunday? Mourinho: "About what?" Reporter: Have you got extra motivation because of Sunday? Mourinho: "No, the motivation is based on we want to try to win all the time. And I repeat: When you have a bad result, you don’t want to have two bad results. We lost against Chelsea and in the next match we had a little bit extra to try to win. Chelsea lost at the weekend, for sure they are going to have in the next match a little bit more to give. I think it’s something that every club in the world has.
"I told you that when it was eight [points behind City] or something like that. We go match after match, one match at a time, try to win the match, try to get the maximum possible points. We have the number of points that we have. Last season we had seven less or eight less than at this moment. "So we have to try. Last season we drew at home against Bournemouth. Now let’s try to do better than we did last season." "What we did in the Arsenal stadium, you know, it was completely diverse," Mourinho explained. "What we did, what happened after that match, the way we behaved as winners. The only thing I can say is that for me, it was just a question of diversity. "Diversity in behaviour, diversity in education. Just that. And nothing more than that."
Confirmed United squad members
- David de Gea
- Sergio Romero
- Joel Pereira
- Antonio Valencia
- Victor Lindelof
- Phil Jones
- Chris Smalling
- Daley Blind
- Ashley Young
- Luke Shaw
- Scott McTominay
- Nemanja Matic
- Ander Herrera
- Jesse Lingard
- Juan Mata
- Anthony Martial
- Marcus Rashford
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