Manchester United v West Brom preview: Injury crisis at Old Trafford

Manchester United will be looking to make it 19 Premier League games unbeaten when West Bromwich Albion visit Old Trafford on Saturday.

Jose Mourinho's side haven't tasted defeat in the league since losing 4-0 to Chelsea in October.

Despite this upturn in form Mourinho's men still find themselves outside the top four - although they do have two games in hand on Liverpool, who sit four points ahead of them in fourth.

Meanwhile, three places behind them in eighth are West Brom, who are on course for their highest finish since 1980/81 when they finished fourth in the top flight.

Team news

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Juan Mata, Paul Pogba, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones are among the absentees for Manchester United.

Ibrahimovic and Ander Herrera serve domestic bans at Old Trafford on Saturday, while midfielder Pogba will be absent with a hamstring injury. Mata, meanwhile, underwent groin surgery and could be out for the rest of the season.

Defenders Jones and Smalling were forced out of the England squad after sustaining what Jose Mourinho called "long-term injuries", but captain Wayne Rooney is available. Marouane Fellaini is a doubt.

Nacer Chadli is an injury concern for West Brom ahead of the trip.

The midfielder has returned from international duty with the Belgium squad nursing a shoulder injury and he will be assessed along with striker Salomon Rondon, who only linked back up with the Albion squad on Friday following his
World Cup qualifying exploits with Venezuela.

Matt Phillips continues to struggle with a hamstring injury and is likely to remain on the sidelines.

Opta stats

Manchester United have lost two of their last three home Premier League games against West Brom (W1), this after being unbeaten in the previous seven.

Aside from those two wins, West Brom have failed to score in three of their last five league games at Old Trafford.

Rooney has scored seven goals and assisted five more in his last 10 Premier League appearances against West Brom.

A visiting player has been sent off in two of the last three Premier League games between these two (Juan Mata in March 2016, Gareth McAuley in November 2015).

United have scored with just 9.1 per cent of their shots in the Premier League this season; their lowest shot conversion ratio in the competition in a single season since 2004-05 (8.2 per cent).

United have already had 33 more shots (463) and 26 more shots on target (170) this Premier League season than they did in the whole 2015-16 season under Louis van Gaal.

West Brom have scored more goals from defenders (12) than any other Premier League team this season.
James Morrison could make his 300th Premier League appearance in this match, becoming just the fourth Scottish player to reach this landmark after Darren Fletcher, Paul Telfer and Gary McAllister.

West Bromwich Albion have outrun their opponents in a league-high 93 per cent of their matches in the Premier League this season (27/29), including the last 19 games in a row.

On the other hand, Manchester United have been outrun by their opponents in all but three of their 27 Premier League matches this season - the worst record by a Premier League side in 2016-17.

Merson's prediction

West Brom have done great this season, and this is still a really big game for Manchester United. The Baggies always cause a few problems, because they're so adept at set-plays under Tony Pulis.

Fellaini will have to play to combat the height of West Brom, which is changing Man Utd's system straight away. West Brom demand a lot of respect, no doubt about that.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-1, 15/2 with Sky Bet