During his press conference ahead of Saturday’s game against Reading in the FA Cup, Jose Mourinho has confirmed that we don’t have any players unavailable through injury.
Morgan Schneiderlin and Memphis Depay won’t play as they are set to move to different clubs this month, Eric Bailly is with the Ivory Coast for the African Cup of Nations, but the manager has confirmed Wayne Rooney and Sergio Romero will start.
There are zero injuries. Zero injuries! We have 27 players and zero injuries. During the season, we have never had big, big problems with that. We had the normal amount of injuries that happen all the time but, in this moment, we have zero. We have every player available apart from Bailly, who is in the African cup.
Yes, we have to rest players. Some players, they need a little rest. Many players, they need to play. Many players deserve to play. I trust them all. I know that, if I change three or four players in the team, some people will say there is a risk. Some people will say we do that because it is a Championship team but Reading is better than some Premier League teams.
The risk is only if we face the game with the wrong attitude, with the wrong frame of mind. If the players go into the game feeling the responsibility and the desire that they are showing match after match, then we have a good chance to win, even if we give some players a rest and some others a chance.
There is also the possibility of Bastian Schweinsteiger playing again.
He’s selected again, so he can start, he can be on the bench, but he’s an option for us. I think that’s the best way to describe [him]; for many months he wasn’t an option, we made that decision. Since then, he’s been working very well and never an injury – he was ill last week, but never an injury. His body is fine, he’s training very well, he’s ready.
