Manchester United’s manager, Ruben Amorim, addressed the media on Thursday, March 6, 2025, ahead of the team’s crucial Premier League match against Arsenal on Sunday, March 9, 2025. The press conference provided insights into United’s preparations, injury concerns, and Amorim’s reflections on his managerial journey.
Amorim explained that he was unsure about who may be available for the league match after a 1-1 draw at Real Sociedad.
“I don’t know,” he admitted when asked directly about Harry Maguire and Manu Ugarte. “We need to survive Sunday. The team was so tired in the last 20 minutes (against Sociedad). We have to prepare for Sunday and then think about this important game in our season on Thursday. But, in this moment, I don’t know. Everybody can start. If they are training tomorrow (Friday), if they played today (Thursday), they can be ready. Chido is on the list, so he can play. We are trying to see all the players that are fresh and that are not in danger of getting an injury. Even that, we have to risk a little but we have to be competitive on Sunday.”
The United boss was asked about the status of the long term injured players and gave a positive update on both Kobbie Mainoo and Amad Diallo. “Even Amad, we’ll see in the end of the last month,” he said. I don’t want to say anything to you but I have the hope to have Amad before, we’ll see. Lisandro is out. Kobbie can return (before the end of the season). The rest, my worry is we have to be careful. Manu will return. I think Luke Shaw and Mason Mount can return also. We’ll see but they are definitely going to return, especially Mason Mount.”
Amorim admitted ‘any game is difficult’ at the moment in the Premier League. “Yeah, any fixture (is),” he said. “In the Premier League, every game is really important. In our moment, we need to win. It’s always a problem when we don’t win so we have to focus on everything at the same time.
“I think the biggest problem is to not have all of the players because, in the beginning, people talk about our rotation – especially in Europe, we are changing all the time. It’s because of this because it’s really hard and the Europa League is so much harder, in my opinion, than the Champions League. Not the games but the recovery to play Premier League on the weekend, so we have to deal with that.”
United face Arsenal on Sunday at 4.30pm, the game is live on Sky Sports in the UK. A protest against the ownership at the club is planned outside the stadium before kick-off.