Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed Luke Shaw will miss the trip to Wembley for their FA Cup semi-final clash with Chelsea on Sunday.
Shaw was forced off in United's 2-2 draw with Southampton on Monday with an ankle injury and subsequently missed the 2-0 victory at Crystal Palace three days later.
The left-back's replacement on the night, Brandon Williams, meanwhile, was also brought off against the Saints following a clash of heads with Kyle Walker-Peters and also missed the visit of Selhurst Park.
And Solskjaer confirmed that Shaw will miss Sunday's semi-final but is more hopeful that Williams will have recovered in time for a potential start. Timothy Fosu-Mensah, however, filled in ably amid the pair's absence and will certainly be considered for back-to-back starts against the Blues.
“Luke will be out,” Solksjaer said, speaking to United's official website. “I can't see him recovering. Brandon will hopefully be okay, he'll try to join in training today with his eye. We'll see if he can see the ball when he comes in! He should be fine."
The Red Devils have enjoyed a superb run of form since the restart, winning six of their eight games, and they were able to bounce back from Michael Obafemi's late equaliser on Monday night to beat Palace midweek and keep their hopes of a top-four finish alive.
However, with the Chelsea clash being their third fixture in six days, rotation will surely be considered by the Norwegian boss.
“We’ve not seen a lot of them [the players] because we’re just coming up to a training session now,” he said.
“But I’d rather have this game than not have it. We can’t say it [the scheduling] has been unkind, it is what it is and, when you get the opportunity to play a semi-final, you’ll squeeze that in even if you have to play on the same day.”
Sergio Romero and Odion Ighalo could return to the starting XI on Sunday, while Solskjaer also confirmed that there's a "good chance" of Jesse Lingard being involved after the midfielder appeared off the bench against the Eagles.
Source : 90min