Manchester United chase a fourth consecutive league victory when they take on Sunderland at Old Trafford on Boxing day. It is a fixture which will grab the headlines for reasons like David Moyes’ return to Old Trafford. As far as Manchester United are concerned, the club would be happy with players like Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan returning to the first-team action. Both players have been out for the last few weeks with a niggling injury problems.

The £26.3m summer signing had just been settling into the club before being stretchered off in the 1-0 win over Tottenham a few weeks ago. Thankfully, the injury did not prove to be serious and the Armenian International is back in selection for the game against Sunderland as reported by Manchester Evening News. His presence will be extremely important for a team that is expected to have the bulk of the possession on Monday night. Sunderland have been highly defensive in games against the big teams, as David Moyes sees this tactic as his only option against the top teams.

Prior to getting injured, Mkhitaryan had scored two goals in as many games for the club. One of the primary reasons for bringing the 27-year-old at Old Trafford was to provide the urgency that has been missing from United’s play over the last few years. This urgency will once again be the key towards unlocking a Sunderland defence, which is likely to be deep inside their own half.

“For us it’s more of the same. It’s good for us to have everyone available but Luke Shaw and he’s not far. Central-defender position we have now all of them, Smalling is back, Bailly is back, Blind is fine, Rojo fine, a position where it’s important to have stability in options, said Mourinho (via Manchester Evening News)

The return of Eric Bailly may not be much of a positive at this moment considering that Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo have been doing exceedingly better than expectations. The Ivory Coast international is unlikely to start the game since Jose Mourinho would not want to risk disrupting the partnership between Jones and Rojo, as Bailly is set to travel with Ivory Coast for the African Cup of Nations. He is likely to be unavailable for up to 5 weeks.

Luke Shaw remains unavailable once again, and it is likely to see Matteo Darmian continue as the left back.Even though there have been some shaky moments for the defender, the Italian international has done a reasonably good job at left back – not his natural position. Shaw has not featured for the club since going off at half-time in the EFL Cup win over West Ham a few weeks ago.

There are continuing rumours about United being close to signing Victor Lindelof, but for the time being, the focus is on players like Rojo, Jones, and Darmian. Manchester United have conceded only one goal in the last four matches of all competitions. This record, though, is unlikely to prevent United from splashing out £38 million on the Swedish defender.