NEWCASTLE V UNITED Sanchez is Gunnar fire for Ole’s Reds
OLE Gunnar Solskjaer expects Alexis Sanchez to benefit from United’s new fluid attacking approach as he prepares to make his comeback from injury.
Sanchez has been sidelined for over a month with a hamstring injury but returned to training last week and declared himself available for the 4-1 stroll against Bournemouth on Sunday. Solskjaer overlooked Sanchez but clarified the 30-year-old would be involved in tonight’s encounter with Newcastle at St James’s Park.
United have not particularly missed Sanchez, who endured a woeful first year with the club and has mustered just one goal all season.
United have plundered 12 goals in three under Solskjaer, with four of the five other senior forwards registering, but Solskjaer believes Sanchez is well suited to United’s new free-flowing style.
“I think he’s a player that would benefit from the interchanging, the rotation, the movement,” Solskjaer said.
“The more chances you create, the more times you get the ball into the final third, he’ll be an asset for us.
“I think he’s looking forward to it. It certainly looked like it [on Saturday] in the session. He scored quite a few nice goals, so that was encouraging.
“He’s had some great training sessions the last few days, he wanted to be here today but we have to manage him, he’s been out for a month. But he’ll be involved, yes.
“He wants to play all the time, he’s one of those characters. He put himself available but it was a few days too early for him. He’s not had enough fitness or whatever, but he’s champing at the bit.” Solskjaer’s United have dispatched three of the Premier League’s bottom nine sides in Bournemouth, Huddersfield and Cardiff and another await in Newcastle, a team Solskjaer scored a modest four goals against during his Old Trafford career. St James’s Park evokes mixed emotions for Solskjaer, who clinched his first victory as Cardiff manager and suffered relegation at the same ground in 2014, while Solskjaer was a starter in United’s 5-0 thrashing by the Magpies in 1996. Although he rarely relished playing at Newcastle, Solskjaer has fond memories of the 6-2 evisceration he scored in back in 2003. “We’ll get tougher tests than this, for example tonight against Newcastle,” Solskjaer added. “It’s a different ball game because you’re away. “I never enjoyed going up there. There was one game where we really enjoyed ourselves, the 6-2 win, but that was more or less it. “It’s going to be a tough one.”