• Premier League

Falcao could be left out at Arsenal, says Van Gaal

Louis van Gaal has said he is unlikely to bring any of his injured players straight back into Manchester United's starting XI for the trip to Arsenal, giving the likes of Radamel Falcao no guarantees over a place in the squad.

The Colombia international, who has missed United's last three games and not started for them since scoring the winner in the 2-1 victory over Everton on October 5, tweeted on Tuesday that he had returned to training.

Listo para entrenar con la mayor motivation .//Ready to train with the best motivation http://t.co/ZkbaoLNXSI— Radamel Falcao (@FALCAO) November 11, 2014

Right-back Rafael is also training again after sitting out the defeat to Manchester City and the win over Crystal Palace with a muscle problem, while centre-backs Jonny Evans and Phil Jones are longer-term absentees, although there are hopes that both are on their way back.

Jones has been suffering from shin splints since last month's 2-2 draw at West Bromwich Albion while Evans, who has an ankle problem, has not played since the 5-3 defeat at Leicester in September.

But Van Gaal said he does not want to risk those who have been out for a while, and warned that they could not all be substitutes against Arsenal on November 22.

"No, I don't think so because now some of them have already not played for five, six, seven weeks," he said.

"They could sit on the bench because they can play 20 minutes, but I cannot put a lot of players who are not 100 percent fit on the bench."

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The Dutchman cited the example of Paddy McNair, who got cramp in the final minutes against Palace on his first start since early October, adding: "You saw what happened with McNair because the rhythm of the game is very high in the Premier League."

United are certain to be without another central defender, Marcos Rojo, at the Emirates, with the Argentina international continuing his recovery from a dislocated shoulder.

However, Chris Smalling will be available again after serving a one-match suspension following his red card in the Manchester derby.

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