Jose Mourinho confirms Manchester United outcast set to feature against Bournemouth

The Portuguese laid down the gauntlet to the 21-year-old and could now reward him with a first Premier League appearance since October, confirming he is in the squad to face Bournemouth.

“So now we have the most insane calendar fixtures that somebody can have but it’s for good reasons”.

Bournemouth now sit 14th in the league, four points above the relegation places and the 39-year-old has said they will treat their game at United no differently in their search for a win to restart their season.

Man U have won the last two games between these two sides by at least two goals and five of their last six home wins in all competitions were by more than one goal.

Jones has been on the sidelines for the last three weeks after suffering a foot injury during United’s 0-0 draw with Hull City at Old Trafford last month. However, it is unlikely that he will be drafted straight back into the starting lineup, with Mourinho likely to proceed with caution with the English centre-back.

Manchester United’s Luke Shaw has reportedly resigned himself to leaving this summer. However, the Armenian too is expected to start from the bench, meaning Juan Mata and Anthony Martial should start on Saturday.

The good news for Bournemouth is that Jordon Ibe is fit after a knee injury.

Bournemouth may have to produce their performance of the season if they are to leave Old Trafford with a positive result.

“I don’t see motivation in the group as a problem, that is not an issue for us and against many teams we have played very well”.

The 54-year-old is also confident Zlatan Ibrahimovic will sign on for another year.

There was also an update on club captain Wayne Rooney, who Mourinho said will also be named in Saturday’s squad.

Juan Mata comes a distant second with just 6 league goals to his name, followed by Paul Pogba with 4, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Marcus Rashford and last season’s top scorer Anthony Martial, all chipping in with 3 each. However, although Mourinho described rumours of a return to Everton as “making little sense”, he admitted he could not guarantee United’s record goal-scorer would still be at the club next season. Things have changed dramatically since then, and the Cherries now lie periliously close to the relegation zone.

‘In the back of your mind, going into this run of games now, knowing that we’ve won a trophy gives you an extra boost, but it’s not something that we’ve been enjoying all week.