Ralf Rangnick will be without six players when Manchester United play Chelsea in a Premier League clash on Thursday night.
Harry Maguire and Jadon Sancho have both been ruled out of the match at Old Trafford, adding to the list of absentees that already included Edinson Cavani, Paul Pogba, and Luke Shaw.
Fred will also not make the game as he is still not fully recovered from his hip flexor problem.
“Fred is unfortunately not yet available,” Ralf told reporters at his pre-match press conference.
“He tried to train yesterday but after training I had a long conversation with him and he just told me that he doesn’t feel fully fit, he’s not at 100 per cent, and with a player like Fred who’s always committed to give his very best, I don’t think it makes sense, with the muscular injury that he had, to play him too early, because that would mean we take the risk of a re-injury and this is something that I don’t want to do. So he won’t be available unfortunately tomorrow.
“And apart from that we have Harry Maguire who is not available. He has some issues with his knee, not a big thing – some niggle in his knee. He hasn’t been training, neither yesterday or today.
“Paul obviously, Fred, Edinson, Luke Shaw and Jadon – Jadon is ill, he has tonsillitis since yesterday, couldn’t train today and will also be not available tomorrow.”
Rangnick is however hopeful Cavani can recover in time to feature in the club’s last three Premier League matches.
“Well, he should be back in training on Friday, so the day after the Chelsea game, according to the team doctor, and then we will have to see,” Ralf said.
“He has been out for quite some time now but according to our team doctor he should be back in training on Friday.”
Aaron Wan-Bissaka is also a doubt for an unspecified reason, and Rangnick admitted he might be forced to use academy players in the remaining matches if the situation did not change.
“Well, it’s possible. We have quite a few players missing tomorrow and one or two still with question marks so we will have to wait and see until tomorrow to see if, for example, Aaron Wan-Bissaka can play.
“I already played Hannibal at Liverpool so it’s possible [I’ll play youngsters] but we also have to be fair enough to those players.
United suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Arsenal last weekend and will be eager to bounce back at home to the European champions.
