Erik ten Hag gives fitness update on five Man Utd players ahead of Omonia Nicosia clash

The Manchester United said four players will miss Thursday’s Europa League game.
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Erik ten Hag has confirmed Anthony Martial will not be involved for Manchester United when they host Omonia Nicosia on Thursday night.

The forward went off with a back injury during Sunday’s 2-1 win over Everton and was replaced in the first half by Cristiano Ronaldo. But the problem looks set to keep him out of the upcoming Europa League clash and could prevent him from playing in Sunday’s Premier League game against Newcastle United.

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Asked if he’ll be training on Wednesday, Ten Hag responded: “Not today, we will see how he develops to Sunday.”

This is Martial’s third injury of the new campaign after he began the season with a hamstring issue and, after recovering, sustained an Achilles problem. Ten Hag admitted it is frustrating to be without the No.9, but said he’s been pleased with Martial’s impact when he has played.

“I’ve had several talks with him,” said the United manager. “It’s very disappointing for him. I think from all the minutes he played he did very well. You saw on Sunday, he played a good assist for Antony on the first goal.

“But also in the pressing he was really good and I think he was an important factor that we played well in the first half. But he fell out [with injury] and it’s a disappointment for him and the team as well.”

Other injury news

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Ten Hag also confirmed Harry Maguire, Donny van de Beek and Aaron Wan-Bissaka will miss Thursday’s game through injury, but said Marcus Rashford will be available after the attacker went down with a problem following the full-time whistle at Goodison Park.

“Harry Maguire is out,” said Ten Hag. “Longer-term, Donny van de Beek and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, they’re not in the squad.”

The former Ajax boss was also quizzed on whether he will rotate for the game against Omonia and if he has a big enough squad to deal with the current fixture pile-up. “The first game is always the most important,” he said in Wednesday’s press conference, implying United won’t rest any players. “It is Europe, it is tough. You want to be number one in the group so we have to win that game.

“All the clubs have the same problem, the clubs who play in Europe,” he added. “We have a squad to cover that. In all the positions we have double [options]. Injuries and suspensions will be there and you have to deal with it as a squad. All the players have to have their game time managed. If we have to rotate if we have injuries then we can replace players.”

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