Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted he is unsure whether either of Manchester United’s recognised left-backs – Luke Shaw or Brandon Williams – will be fit for Thursday’s match against Crystal Palace.
Shaw picked up an ankle injury in last night’s disappointing 2-2 draw with Southampton and was replaced by Williams, who then also had to go off after getting a nasty gash on his head following a collision with on-loan Southampton defender Kyle Walker-Peters.
United were left with 10 men as they could not bring on a fifth substitute because they had used all three of their allowed substitution opportunities.
‘Luke twisted his ankle,’ Solskjaer said at the post-match press conference.
‘Hopefully, we can have some good news on him after we’ve done a scan.
In an interview with MUTV, the boss also commented on Williams’ injury.
‘I can’t say, I’ve not seen Brandon because he was with the medical staff and I think he was getting some stitches with a gash over his eye.
‘So let’s see how he is.
The Norwegian was left frustrated that the ‘five subs over three occasions’ rule meant United were left with ten men.
‘I don’t know if you want to look into those rules,’ he said.
‘Obviously, it was a bad cut and Brandon couldn’t see out of his eye. [The referee] stopped the game when the Southampton centre-back got a calf injury, I didn’t understand that one early in the second half.
‘I don’t know, it is what it is, we didn’t have too many minutes to see it out with 10 men and we should have done better.’
If neither player recovers in time for Thursday’s game, Solskjaer will have some juggling to do. The most likely player to get the nod would be Diogo Dalot, who has started three games for United at left back previously – a 0-0 Champions League draw with Liverpool in 2018 and a 2-1 victory against Brighton and 4-0 defeat against Everton, both in 2019.
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