Ole Gunnar Solskjaer expects Manchester United to be without Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay for Sunday’s trip to Southampton as his side look to prove they have found some much-needed consistency.

Neither Pogba nor McTominay trained with their team-mates on Friday morning but there was better news on Marcus Rashford, Victor Lindelof and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

“Scott and Paul, they didn’t train this morning, they were not on the grass,” Solskjaer said.

“They are very unlikely for the weekend. Marcus, Victor and Aaron, they came through the session so hopefully they will be OK, although they are not 100 per cent.”

“It’s very interesting to watch the progress Southampton have made under Ralph. You know you’re in for a game for 96, 97 minutes. They scored in the 96th minute against us last year. I’m a big admirer of the physical attributes he has in his team.”

With a relatively long gap between Tuesday’s Champions League win over Istanbul Basaksehir and Sunday’s fixture, Solskjaer was able to give his players the increasingly rare treat of a day off this week.

And the Norwegian admitted the relentless schedule at present offered an opportunity to the likes of Southampton and others to push up the table this season as those with European and cup commitments find themselves stretched to the limit.

“I think this season is going to be a very unpredictable one,” he said. “Of course there are sometimes advantages in having a full week of training.

“But we want to be in the Champions League. I would rather be there and facing congestion than not having that. That’s just the situation that we have to get used to and make the most of.”