Phil Jones Ruled Out With Hamstring Injury

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has confirmed that Phil Jones will be out for a month with a torn hamstring.

Jones suffered the injury during England's 2-0 win in Switzerland in midweek and his absence could pave the way for new signing Marcos Rojo to make his United debut against Queens Park Rangers this weekend.

"Phil has a torn hamstring," Van Gaal said. "He is maybe out for three weeks or a month."

Ashley Young, meanwhile, has suffered an injury in training and is also likely to be missing from the squad that tackles QPR in the Sky Live game on Sunday afternoon.

Van Gaal said: "The situation has not improved much because while there are players coming back, there are also players who have got injured in the last week like, for example, Jones and Ashley Young. So it's more or less the same situation and that’s not a very positive one."

On the plus side, Ander Herrera and Rafael both came through a reserve match in midweek and could be in contention for a return while England left-back Luke Shaw has recovered from a hamstring injury that kept him out of the first three league matches.

"I think Herrera and Shaw are fit enough to play," Van Gaal said. "There is always a risk when you bring players back in for their first game after injury. Therefore, we let them play in a game for the reserves against Bury and they played 60 minutes and they played well. I think they can play now."

Despite picking up two points from nine in the league, and suffering a humbling Capital One Cup defeat at MK Dons, Van Gaal is optimistic he can achieve a top-three finish.

"I don't think it's an unreasonable target," Van Gaal said. "That it shall be difficult? That is another question but a club such as Manchester United has to always have a target.

"Within the top three, I think is logical perhaps because Manchester United wants to be in the Champions League."