Manchester United defenders Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof will both be sidelined for around a month after sustaining muscle injuries.
Lindelof was substituted during the second half of United’s 1-1 Premier League draw at Brentford on Saturday with a hamstring injury, which is expected to keep him out for the rest of April.
Martinez took Lindelof’s place with 21 minutes to play in what represented the Argentine’s first appearance since early February.
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However, the Red Devils have confirmed Martinez subsequently suffered a calf strain in training and will now join Lindelof in the treatment room.
Martinez has endured a frustrating second season at Old Trafford, being limited to just 11 appearances totalling 758 minutes across all competitions this campaign.
After seeing his 2022-23 season cut short by a broken metatarsal, Martinez was forced to undergo further surgery on his foot in October and missed around four months.
He returned in January’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham but only played three further matches before suffering a knee injury, which kept him out until Saturday’s trip to West London.
ℹ️ @LisandrMartinez and @VLindelof will be out of action for at least a month.#MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 2, 2024
The injuries represent further blows to United’s hopes of Champions League qualification, with Erik ten Hag juggling numerous selection issues ahead of Thursday’s trip to Chelsea.
Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia and Anthony Martial are long-term absentees, while Jonny Evans has been nursing an injury for several weeks and Raphael Varane was also taken off as a precaution on Saturday.
Those concerns over Evans and Varane have opened up the prospect of Harry Maguire being United’s only senior centre-back available on Thursday, with 19-year-old Willy Kambwala coming into contention.
