They both missed Friday night’s defeat at Brighton.
Romelu Lukaku missed Manchester United’s 1-0 loss to Brighton on Friday night, still recovering from an injury picked up against Arsenal last weekend. The striker returned to Belgium for treatment, while Alexis Sánchez also didn’t travel. His absence was more surprising, but José Mourinho explained that he had picked up a knock during the week.
United play Chelsea in the FA Cup final on Saturday 19th, when Mourinho will be desperate to beat his former employers and lift the trophy. In order to do that, they will have to play vastly better than they did against Brighton. Having Lukaku and Sánchez available would certainly make that easier, and Mourinho has said he expects them both to be back fit.
“Of course, Alexis and Lukaku have injuries, so they weren’t an option, but we believe in these players,” Mourinho told BBC Sport.
“We believe they deserve a chance to play – they are fresher than others that played so many matches in the season, to play against a team that is strong at home and intense.”
“I hope they can play in the final. We have two matches and need four points.”
At the moment, the United boss is only hopeful that Sanchez and Lukaku will return for the Wembley showpiece against Chelsea.
He’s not 100% sure, but the United boss didn’t seem overly concerned about the injury sustained by Lukaku when speaking at his press conference this past Thursday.
“I don’t know, I just know that of course not tomorrow, (against Brighton) apart from that we need to wait for more scans, more time.
“Hope so (that he will be fit for the final). It looks positive.”
