Premier League: Week 18, Manchester United Will Play on Boxing Day

Premier League: Week 18, Manchester United Will Play on Boxing Day

MANCHESTER -- Jose Mourinho has said David Moyes paid the price for taking charge at Manchester United just as the Premier League was becoming ultra-competitive, but added that he would have relished the chance to take over the team Moyes inherited from Sir Alex Ferguson.

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Sunderland manager Moyes returns to Old Trafford on Boxing Day for the first time since being sacked by United in April 2014 after just 10 months in charge.

Manchester United could make it four successive Premier League wins for the first time since March 2015 against Sunderland on Boxing Day.

United are only missing Luke Shaw from their 27-man squad as summer signings Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly return from their injuries.

Winger Januzaj is ineligible under the terms of his loan agreement, and will be joined on the sidelines by Jan Kirchhoff, who has undergone surgery for a knee cartilage injury which will keep him out for 12 weeks.

Defenders Billy Jones (hip) and Javier Manquillo (hamstring) and midfielder Steven Pienaar (calf) have returned to training, but the game could come too soon for them, and Lee Cattermole (hip), Jack Rodwell (hamstring), Lynden Gooch (ankle), Paddy McNair and Duncan Watmore (both knee) are still out.

Manchester United squad: De Gea, Romero, Johnstone, Valencia, Fosu-Mensah, Jones, Smalling, Rojo, Bailly, Darmian, Blind, Young, Fellaini, Carrick, Herrera, Schweinsteiger, Pogba, Lingard, Mata, Mkhitaryan, Martial, Rashford, Rooney, Ibrahimovic.