Manchester United boss José Mourinho says defender Eric Bailly will be available for selection when the Reds welcome Hull City to Old Trafford on Wednesday night.
The Ivorian made his club return with the Under-23s on Monday night, playing almost an hour before being taken off as a precaution after taking a knock on his ankle.
The 22-year-old had been away on international duty with the Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations but returned early to Manchester after the holders were surprisingly knocked out at the group stages.
In his pre-match press conference, Mourinho confirmed that Bailly could be in line to make his first appearance of 2017 and also said that he would revert back to his strongest side in the Premier League:
We always play a full-strength team. It depends on the way you look at it but we always try to have a strong team.
Of course, we had some players that didn’t play the last match [against Wigan], some players with a lot of matches played already – people like Valencia, Ibra, Pogba. Some of these players with lot of matches didn’t play but will play tomorrow.
United face the Tigers for the second time in six days, but Mourinho says that only three points will do in the Premier League, as opposed to a cup clash:
The last time we played them, even a defeat would be a good result – even if we lost the match by one goal difference, it would give us a final.
Tomorrow, only three points is a good result for us. If we don’t win, it’s really bad because we need to win matches – that’s the big difference. We need to win the match.
