Valencia offers Man Utd festive cheer with positive injury update

Antonio Valencia has offered Manchester United a positive update on the injury which forced him off against West Brom.

The Ecuadorian full-back limped off at The Hawthorns after 66 minutes to be replaced by Marcos Rojo.

His departure from a hard-fought Premier League encounter sparked fears that he could be facing up to a spell on the sidelines, with Jose Mourinho only able to report afterwards that the problem could “big, small, medium”.

Valencia has now suggested that he will not be missing for long, with the 32-year-old declaring himself to be “fine” after a 2-1 win for the Red Devils.

Mourinho was already planning on handing Valencia a well-deserved break as the games continue to come thick and fast.

He admitted after a narrow victory over the Baggies that fatigue is starting to set in and that he will need to rotate his squad.

Discussing Valencia’s knock, the Portuguese said: "That's football in England, especially in December. Players are not machines and sometimes it happens.

"He knew he was not going to play the next game [a Carabao Cup quarter-final at Bristol City on Wednesday] and he was asked for a last effort before the break but he couldn't resist.

"We have other players, [Daley] Blind and [Matteo] Darmian were not on the bench, and we have other people to cope with the difficulty."

United have four more fixtures to take them through to the end of 2017, with a midweek cup clash with Bristol City followed by Premier League outings against Leicester, Burnley and Southampton.

They will then open 2018 with a trip to Everton on New Year’s Day, before kicking off their FA Cup campaign with a visit to Championship side Derby at the third round stage.