The Reds have struggled with setbacks throughout the campaign with Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof the latest two players to be ruled out. With a trip to Stamford Bridge next on the horizon for United, the boss previewed our next Premier League task by addressing questions from sections of the media at our training base.

Speaking about Mason Mount, Chelsea’s form and more, scroll down a little further to both read and watch, everything Erik had to say…

WE KEEP GOING “I have been in football long enough to know, and what some of you should also understand, is that such things happen. Sometimes, you are not playing good but we are Man United and you still have to win. When you are winning, you can’t give it away in the way we did, that is the biggest disappointment for me. We also have to see the trends line over a long period and I would say, from Christmas, on it has been positive. We keep going.”

APPROACH TO INJURIES “You can’t prevent it and you also see it is not only us. The standards that the Premier League, in terms of intensity, are so high and the overload into the schedule, also with international football, is so huge. We have all internationals in our squad and you see it is not only us. [Manchester] City has problems, Liverpool has problems, Newcastle has problems, there are many other teams. In this moment, especially the defending department [is struggling]. But, in midfield and in the frontline, the players are available.”

MOUNT’S ROLE “He is a fantastic football player but it is important, first, that he is getting and keeping fit because he has had three injuries, as we have seen now with Licha [Lisandro Martinez]. You always want to avoid [this], so we have to do this very carefully and so that is the first objective, to keep him fit. At the same time, we want to use him so that he can have benefit and contribute to the team, like he did on Saturday, where he had an impact.”

VERDICT ON CHELSEA

“It is a tough competition and it is very tight. Also it comes down to which players are available and which players are not. When you are on the right side of the line, you can have a successful season, but in this competition where it is so competitive, it can also be a time where you are on the wrong side. Then you may have a season which is more difficult. For the rest, they have a fantastic team and they have fantastic players, they play good football so they can beat everyone and they have already shown that in this league.”

A CAREFUL APPROACH TO FITNESS “It depends on the situation you are in as a team. Also how the players, how they see it, how they express it on the pitch. Then you see [it] and take a strategy on how to deal with it.”

SOLVING THE PROBLEM

“We have an idea but we will work on that and I think it is [something we talk about] internally. We will deal with it.”