'We will see' - Manchester United suffer injury scare with one star ruled out of Fulham FA Cup fixture
The early Man Utd team news as they face Fulham in the FA Cup fifth round fixture.
Manchester United have suffered an injury scare ahead of their FA Cup fifth-round clash with Fulham this weekend. United are back in action when they host the London club at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon, but they could be without as many as 11 senior players for the match.
United were without nine players for their midweek win over Ipswich in the Premier League, and Ruben Amorim has revealed he does not expect to welcome anyone back for the match this weekend. They were already set to be without Lisandro Martinez, Amad Diallo, Kobbie Mainoo, Toby Collyer, Luke Shaw, Mason Mount, Jonny Evans, Altay Bayindir and Tom Heaton, before they suffered another setback during the week.
Patrick Dorgu will also miss the match after he was sent off against Ipswich. The 20-year-old was shown a straight red card for serious foul play and will begin a three-match domestic ban this weekend.
Manchester United suffer injury scare
To make matters even worse for Manchester United, they could also be without star forward Alejandro Garnacho when they take on Fulham this weekend. The 20-year-old only returned to the starting line up against Ipswich but was substituted following Dorgu’s red card in the clash and chose to watch the rest of the match away from his teammates.
Ruben Amorim insists there is no further issue with the Argentine following his reaction to the decision, though he did suffer a knock during the match and could be considered a doubt for Sunday’s clash.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Amorim provided a brief injury update on Garnacho and addressed his situation at the club. "He came to me. Was funny because the next day he came to me to my office. I did some investigation and he went to the dressing room, changed his clothes because he was wet, he watched the game not on the bench and at the end of the game he was there and went home. So there is not an issue there.
"He's a young kid that will learn. The important thing was the next morning he was speaking with me. I think we need to see that small things like walking out onto the pitch - because (Joshua) Zirkzee did the same thing (after he was substituted on 33 minutes against Newcastle in December) and the context was different - but it was the same thing.
"We have to understand the situation, the context, the age of the players, of course they have to be better. They have to understand perception here is really important. But you can deal with that the next day and move on so let's just move on. But I told him at Manchester United everything is important and the perception in a big club is really important. So he is going to pay a dinner to all the team and that’s it.
"I think he understands. But, like I said, [the players] read everything, all the small things. And I know the players quite well, I played for quite a while, I understand they are frustrated. He was subbed, he was playing well and has to go off in that moment of the game. It's hard to deal with everything but they have to deal with everything. I just try to help them be better footballers. Yes, he has a knock, when he went to shoot was blocked inside the box, I expect for him to be ready but we will see.”