Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard set to make swift return from injury as Manchester United duo could return for Liverpool clash
- The pair were injured against PSG and initially ruled out for ‘two to three weeks’
- Martial suffered a groin problem, while Lingard went off with a hamstring issue
- However the injuries are not as bad as feared and they could make swift return
Manchester United have been handed a major boost with reports Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard could make a swift return to action.
The in-form pair will miss Monday’s FA Cup tie at Chelsea after being injured against Paris Saint-German last week.
Caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ruled the pair out for ‘two to three weeks’ after the 2-0 defeat in the Champions League.
Manchester United forward Anthony Martial was initially ruled out for two to three weeks
But Daily Mirror reports the injuries – a groin problem for Martial and a hamstring issue for Lingard – are not as bad as first thought.
And the pair could even return for next Sunday’s huge Premier League showdown with bitter rivals Liverpool at Old Trafford.
That would be a major boost for United, who are desperate to dent the Merseyside club’s hopes of a first title for 29 years and boost their own chances of securing a top-four finish in the Premier League.
Jesse Lingard was also ruled out after picking up an injury against PSG in Champions League
Martial and Lingard suffered their injuries towards the end of the first-half against PSG, their enforced withdrawal a major factor in United’s defeat, which has left them facing a Champions League last 16 exit for the second year running.
Both are ruled out of the FA Cup fifth found tie at Chelsea, with struggling Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku set to come in for them.
Solskjaer has challenged his players to bounce from his first defeat in 12 games in charge when they take on Chelsea. ‘You don’t panic because you’ve lost a game,’ he added. ‘You don’t change everything. It doesn’t change the mind set at all.
Solskjaer has challenged his players to bounce from his first defeat in 12 games in charge
‘I hate losing games, the boys hate it. They’ve been down, but there’s no point dwelling on it. There are big games with good teams coming up and we need to dust ourselves down.
‘You’ve got to bounce back at this club. You always have challenges and away against Chelsea is tough. We know there was a spell against PSG, seven or eight minutes, we lost our way apart from that we weren’t too bad.
‘We need to keep working at the way we play football. We want to go down to Chelsea, we want to have Liverpool here and impose ourselves on those games. There are quite a few other teams with injuries so you have to adapt to that.’
