Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed that the club will be without the services of both Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard for Monday night’s FA Cup fifth round tie at Chelsea.
The attacking duo picked up groin and hamstring injuries respectively in the Champions League round of 16 clash against Paris Saint-Germain in midweek where United witnessed the end of their unbeaten run under Ole.
In a press conference covered by MUTV, Ole acknowledged that Martial and Lingard will remain on the sidelines for the forthcoming games against Chelsea and Liverpool in the FA Cup and Premier League respectively, although he is optimistic regarding their comebacks thereafter.
United have gone through a tremendous resurgence under Ole and they recently went through a 11 match unbeaten run under his management before the 2-0 defeat to Les Parisiens in the first leg of the Champions League last 16.
As such, the Mancunian giants should have plenty of momentum leading into the Blues’ encounter but it will be interesting to see how the caretaker boss adapts with the absence of Martial and Lingard, who have been crucial to the upsurge in form in recent months.
Juan Mata, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez are probable candidates on reserve to make up the void but the latter, in particular, could be restricted to a bench role after another disappointing showing against Les Parisiens, where he was once more guilty of squandering ball possession on multiple occasions.
Meanwhile, Ole concluded his speech by confirming that Antonio Valencia and Matteo Darmian are the other players expected to miss the game through injuries, though they would not have commanded a starting role regardless of their availability for the Cup tie.
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