The look of despair written on Bruno Fernandes and Erik ten Hag‘s faces the moment Casemiro was brandished a yellow card against Crystal Palace speaks volumes about how important the Brazilian is to Manchester United.
Despite being a booking away from missing Sunday’s crunch clash against Premier League leaders Arsenal through suspension, Ten Hag started United’s influential number 18 against the Eagles.
With United leading Patrick Vieira’s side through Fernandes it looked like the gamble to start the former Real Madrid star had paid off.
But in the 80th minute, the 30-year-old was booked for cynically scything down former Red Wilfried Zaha.
READ: Confirmed Manchester United transfers in, out, loan deals for January 2023
With the 69-time Brazil international already ruled out of the trip to The Emirates, the yellow card seemed to have an impact on United’s performance, which was compounded by Michael Olise scoring an equaliser in injury-time via a 25-yard free-kick.
With Casemiro unavailable for Sunday’s heavyweight clash against the Gunners, United in Focus looks at Manchester United’s record with and without the five-time Champions League winner this season.
Manchester United’s record with and without Casemiro during 2022-23 campaign
Prior to being paraded at Old Trafford before United’s win against Liverpool, Ten Hag’s tenure began with back-to-back Premier League defeats against Brighton & Hove Albion and a 4-0 drubbing at Brentford.
Despite tuning in to watch United being hammered by the Bees, Casemiro didn’t have second thoughts about a move to the Theatre of Dreams and instead, according to The Telegraph, began sending messages to his agent saying: “Tell them I’ll fix this”.
Having come off the bench in three consecutive Premier League games, which yielded three wins for the Reds, Casemiro experienced defeat on his first start for the Busby Babes.
A controversial penalty, which had a big impact on the Europa League group, saw Real Sociedad come away from Old Trafford with a 1-0 win after Lisandro Martinez was harshly adjudged to have handled David Silva’s shot on goal.
Following United’s humiliating 6-3 defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad at the start of October, a game in which Casemiro came off the bench on the hour mark, the former Los Blancos midfielder was handed his first Premier League start against Everton.
United came from behind to beat the Toffees 2-1 win at Goodison Park and Casemiro set up Cristiano Ronaldo to score the winner which was the 37-year-old’s 700th club goal of his career.
Casemiro has started United’s last 12 Premier League games from which he’s scored against Chelsea and Bournemouth.
Since the Brazilian’s integration into the starting XI, Ten Hag’s side have picked up 27 points from a possible 36 in the league and have conceded just eight top-flight goals in that time.
- With Casemiro – Casemiro has made 26 appearances for the Reds, from which he’s laid on four assists to go alongside his two goals. He’s started 19 games which have brought 14 wins, three draws and two losses.
- Without Casemiro – United’s record in games Casemiro hasn’t started, as well as the first two games of the season when he wasn’t yet at the club and the Liverpool game, stands at seven wins and three defeats with 16 goals conceded.
With Manchester United heading to north London without our most influential and important player, Ten Hag will be hoping Casemiro’s teammates step up in his absence.
United beat Arsenal 3-1 in the reverse fixture back in September when Casemiro was introduced as a substitute with ten minutes remaining.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
