Anthony Martial has picked up an injury which has ruled him out of tonight’s match with Club Brugge.
It was certainly a surprise not to see the striker at least on the bench after a run of three goals in three games.
Martial was a full participant in training yesterday and so this blow has come out of nowhere.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told the club website: “He [Anthony] didn’t feel right during the training yesterday, or he walked off during the training, and he is injured so hopefully it won’t be too bad. But I don’t really know yet how long it will be.”
It could go either way
Our instant reaction at this stage is a) don’t over react, and b) be prepared for anything.
It was just yesterday that United supporters were felling positive that the injury list was finally dwindling, with just Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba missing.
Martial is clearly being rested as a precaution, but we saw earlier in the season how one week can turn into two, and then end up at a six or seven week absence.
His September and October injury was also a muscle injury, although the nature of this problem is currently undisclosed.
The best case scenario is that Martial will be back on Sunday to face Everton from the start. Harry Maguire and David de Gea both bounced back from similar concerns earlier in the season after missing midweek games to be ready for the weekend.
At the same time, United must prepare without Martial, and this is where the signing of Odion Ighalo proves it’s value.
Regardless of how he fare tonight, hopefully well, he is important to have in the squad as an option.
United can’t focus too much on Sunday’s game with Everton and rushing him back.
Martial may not have started in the FA Cup against Newcastle next Thursday anyway, but subsequent Premier League fixtures against Manchester City and Tottenham mean we will need him back.
Hopefully it is not a situation where we end up losing him for those games too.
He was just coming into form with three goals in consecutive games, it would be very unfortunate if all of his momentum disappears due to a long lay-off.
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