Solskjaer explains Pogba and McTominay's absence

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has explained why two key midfielders are absent from the matchday squad to face Burnley at Turf Moor.

Neither Scott McTominay or Paul Pogba made the trip to east Lancashire, with Fred and Nemanja Matic confirmed as starting in the engine room for the Reds.

McTominay was replaced by Pogba at half-time during our 4-1 Boxing Day victory over Newcastle United at Old Trafford and is to undergo more checks to determine the extent of his knee problem.

“Yeah we’ve looked at him, but we haven’t done the full scan yet,” Ole told MUTV in his customary pre-match interview.

“Over the weekend, we’ll know more. It didn’t look good but we hope it’s going to heal quickly.”

Meanwhile, Pogba isn’t being risked after only recently returning from a foot issue which had kept him out for almost three months.

The France midfielder featured for 25 minutes at Watford last Sunday, and the full second half against Newcastle.

“Paul has played in two games now and been out for a while,” Solskjaer added.

“We didn’t feel it was right to bring him today.”

Brandon Williams, Ashley Young and Daniel James come in for Luke Shaw, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Mason Greenwood, and the boss said rotation was vital to keeping things fresh.

“It’s a quick turnaround and we’ve had some players playing quite a bit,“ he added.

“There are fresh legs coming in – Brandon has done really well and Ash comes in with his experience, the same as Nemanja.

”Dan got a rest on Thursday so he's raring to go again.“