Last weekend Premier League match pitting United and Liverpool proved a hard one and today the injured members of the Manchester United squad arrived at Carrington on Wednesday but one man who was expected to be there was missing.
As the Red Devils’ host of injured stars Jesse Lingard, Nemanja Matic, Ander Herrera, Juan Mata, Anthony Martial, Phil Jones, Matteo Darmian and Antonio Valencia all arrived to be assessed by the club’s medical staff, but Marcus Rashford was nowhere to be seen.
The forward’s absence may be an indication that he has improved in time for this week’s fixture against Crystal Palace after he picked up a knock against Liverpool, as reported by the Manchester Evening News.
Rashford hobbled through the match at Old Trafford with an ankle injury and would have almost certainly come off had United not used up all their substitutions.
Herrera was the first to make way because of injury on Sunday with Andreas Pereira coming on to replace him.
Mata then pulled up and came off for Lingard meaning Manchester United had made two of their three substitutions in only the first 25 minutes of the match.
Liverpool suffered with injuries of their own with Brazilian forward Roberto Firmino making way for Daniel Sturridge.
But it was United who were forced to make their third and final sub before the break with Lingard coming back off for Alexis Sanchez.
As aforesaid, Rashford, who spent much of the match limping would have ordinarily and ideally also made way. But it would have meant the Red Devils playing on a man light in what is the biggest match of their domestic season.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer provided a brief update on Rashford’s condition after the game, telling MUTV: “We’re going to work on him for as long as we can to see if he gets ready.”
Whether the striker is available for selection this weekend remains to be seen, but it seems he didn’t check in with the medics on Wednesday.