Star striker Marcus Rashford is a major doubt for Manchester United’s trip to fierce rivals Liverpool on Sunday, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confirmed.
The Red Devils forward sustained a back injury in the FA Cup third round replay against Wolves on Wednesday after coming on as a substitute in the second half.
Rashford was on the field only 16 minutes before having to be subbed off and will undergo a late fitness test subsequently before United’s trip to Anfield.
“I can’t tell you now. As I said with Harry [Maguire] a few weeks ago, of course we’re going to give him the absolute amount of time to find out,” Solskjaer said.
“We’re going to do some more checks and treatment with him today. Yesterday of course was just a recovery day anyway and some treatment for him. I haven’t seen him this morning, but I’m not going to hold my breath. I would probably think that he wouldn’t be ready, but let’s see. There’s still 48 hours, more than that, so let’s see.”
Solskjaer on Rashford’s injury
Left back Luke Shaw is also being monitored after he felt a tight hamstring in the warm-up against Norwich City last weekend.
Shaw missed the FA Cup replay but youngster Brandon Williams continued his string of impressive performances in his absence.
Centre back Eric Bailly may be available for selection for Solskjaer as he returns from a long term knee injury.
Bailly is yet to feature for the first team this season but played for the U23s last weekend and in a closed-doors match on Tuesday.
United are the only team to take points off Liverpool this season having drawn the reverse fixture 1-1 at Old Trafford.
Scott McTominay and Marcos Rojo who started that match are also ruled out along with Paul Pogba who underwent surgery recently.
Youngsters Axel Tuanzebe and Timothy Fosu-Mensah are also recovering from long term injuries and can be expected to feature in coming weeks but Sunday’s match might come too soon for the duo.
Harry Maguire will lead the team out as the new club captain following Ashley Young’s departure to Inter Milan on Friday.
United head into the tie in fifth place, five points behind Chelsea in fourth while Liverpool are 14 points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand over nearest competitors Manchester City.
