Southampton face Manchester United on Saturday afternoon as they look to win their second game of the Premier League season, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may have some injuries to contend with.
Anthony Martial was seen limping towards the end of United’s 2-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace at the weekend and is set to be assessed. Solskjaer, as quoted by injury analyst Ben Dinnery, stated that the Frenchman’s condition would be monitored ahead of the Saints game. He said:
We’ll have to wait and see. Hopefully [he] won’t be too bad and maybe we can have [him] training during the week.
Luke Shaw’s availability is also uncertain. The England international could miss his return to St Mary’s on Saturday with a hamstring problem. Solskjaer, again quoted by Dinnery, said:
We’ll do the scans, but he felt something in his hamstring. Hopefully, it won’t be too bad and I hope he is going to be back for Southampton.
Recent claims from talkSPORT, however, indicate that Shaw’s injury is worse than initially feared. It’s stated that he could miss a month of action.
Twitter: BREAKING: Man Utd’s Luke Shaw ruled out for a month with a hamstring injury.
– talkSPORT sources understand.
Tu… https://t.co/VzfxhDKeYn (@talkSPORT)
Read Southampton’s verdict
Manchester United are vulnerable right now, and injury woes will only compound their scrutinised position. Shaw and Martial are often among the first names on Solskjaer’s team sheet, and news that they could both miss out will be a critical blow.
While Marcus Rashford has displayed a potent threat in front of goal, Martial is arguably United’s best natural finisher. Plus, he’s got a decent record of scoring against us.
Meanwhile, Shaw is set to be quite a big miss. Ashley Young may be forced to slot into the back four, and his decline has been well documented in the past couple of seasons.
Any team that Solskjaer plays will have the capacity to cause Saints problems. However, if Martial and Shaw are both ruled out, Ralph Hasenhuttl may fancy his side’s chances to an even greater extent this weekend.
