Red Devils have lost their ever-present captain and will be relying on fringe players and new faces
Manchester United should certainly put no trust in their luck at the moment after losing Bruno Fernandes to injury. That had never happened.
The club captain was forced off injured during Sunday’s defeat at Aston Villa, a setback Diogo Dalot described as “massive” for Ruben Amorim’s side. Defeat to Villa left United seventh in the Premier League heading into Christmas.
Fernandes was withdrawn at half-time of the 2-1 loss with a suspected soft tissue problem, and Amorim later admitted the midfielder could be sidelined “for a while”, immediately ruling him out of the Boxing Day meeting with another tough opponent in the form of Newcastle United.
“It’s massive,” Dalot, who took over the armband after Fernandes’ withdrawal, said. “We don’t know how bad it is but for him to come off [in] the game, we know how tough he is.
“I think we found a way to keep in the game and try to find ways of playing, creating chances. I think we still created enough to score more goals and let’s hope that it’s not too bad and then we have Bruno for the next games.”
United’s problems are compounded by the likelihood that Kobbie Mainoo will also miss the Newcastle fixture after picking up a calf issue in training. With Amad Diallo, Bryan Mbeumo and Noussair Mazraoui away at the Africa Cup of Nations, and Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire still unavailable, Amorim could be without as many as seven senior players.
After Newcastle, United face Wolves, before facing Leeds, Burnley and Brighton (in the FA Cup) in the new year.
The injury crisis has forced the manager to look to the academy. Jack Fletcher and Shea Lacey were both handed their senior debuts at Villa Park and could feature more over the next two weeks. Dalot said the absences were certainly a chance for younger players to stake a claim.
“This is the moment,” Dalot said. “We have so many players missing that this is the opportunity for those who didn’t have so many chances to step up now and show that they deserve more minutes.
“I’m very happy that they could make their debuts and hopefully in the next games they are available and they can help us as well.”
