Manchester United play their second of three straight matches against big money, brand name clubs when they visit Chelsea for a FA Cup fifth round clash on Monday night. The Red Devils will hope that their attack, and with it the result will be much better than last time out, a disastrous 2-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the home leg of their UEFA Champions League knockout round tie.
Anthony Martial was very uncharacteristically in poor form before leaving early due to injury. Jesse Lingard also had an injury force him into an early exit. Both will be further assessed as kickoff draws closer, but as of now the pair are very serious doubts for the Chelsea clash.
Both forwards are dealing with muscular issues. For Martial, it’s a groin problem, and with Lingard it’s the hamstring.ย Juan Mata replaced Martial in the 45′ of the PSG defeat. Additionally, Alexis Sanchez,ย who came on for Lingard just before halftime in that game, could also be unavailable for selection in the attack on Monday night.
According to NBC Sports, which cites the Daily Mail: “Sanchez was warming up along the sideline in the first half, heย unexpectedly collidedย with assistant referee Fabiano Preti and fell to the turf. Sanchez suffered some sort of leg injury, and although he played on it the rest of the game, he told the Manchester United training staff that he felt pain above one of his knees.”
Sanchez has endured a very rough spell at United since moving over from Arsenal a year ago. He has not been healthy most of the time, and even when fit his form has often been dreadful. It doesn’t really appear that things will be improving for him any time soon either.
Of course, being without Martial and Lingard would be a much bigger potential loss for United.
โYou can’t give that [the injuries] as a reason [why we lost] because we have players like Mata and Sanchez to come on and they’re quality players,” interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said in his post match interview toย BT Sport.
He added during the press conference: “Of course, Jesse and Anthony, they give us something. Letโs hope theyโre not too serious. Theyโre muscle injuries, so weโll just have to wait a couple of days.”
“Jesse and Anthony are big parts of our squad and when they went out, in the second half we didn’t have enough movement. We maybe need to find a different way of playing when Jesse and Anthony are unavailable.โ
According to the Telegraph: “United are anxiously awaiting the outcome of scans on Lingardโs hamstring and Martialโs groin.”
It’s looking like United could be significantly short-handed in the final third when they face the current FA Cup holders in the rematch of last season’s final.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit onย WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.ย
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now.ย Follow him on Twitterย andย Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.
