Hull City
Man United
Erik ten Hag revealed that Marcel Sabitzer suffered an injury in the warm-up before Manchester United’s 2-0 Premier League victory over Nottingham Forest.
Antony and Diogo Dalot scored the decisive goals to ensure we took all three points from our trip to the City Ground.
Sabitzer had been named in our starting line-up to face Steve Cooper’s side, but his withdrawal from the XI due to injury was confirmed just moments before kick-off, with Christian Eriksen called into midfield in his place.
The Austrian’s setback follows the injuries sustained by Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez in midweek, while Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho are among others who are out of action at the moment through injury.
But Erik remains hopeful that the on-loan Bayern Munich midfielder will soon be back in contention for the Reds’ crucial end-of-season run-in.
“He had a problem in the warm up,” the boss told MUTV. “We didn’t take the risk. We already had some injuries, so we have to find out tomorrow. Hopefully, it’s not a big injury.
“We chose not to go into the game with the risk.”
The late news of Eriksen’s switch into the starting line-up had no adverse effect on the Reds’ display in Nottinghamshire, though, and Erik was unsurprised by the way Eriksen stepped in at the last minute, having impressed off the bench in our last two outings.
He told Sky Sports: “You see when Christian Eriksen is coming in, it’s definitely not a disadvantage. I think he played brilliantly with Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes.
Later speaking in his post-match press conference, he added: “He [Eriksen] wouldn’t have had a start if Marcel Sabitzer hadn’t dropped out, but also, when Marcel is dropping out, we are still really happy with his [Eriksen’s] performances from him in the last games.
“When you bring on Christian, it helps the team and I think that showed today.”
With the second leg of our Europa League quarter-final and an FA Cup semi-final now on the horizon in the next seven days, Erik will be hoping he can welcome back the likes of Sabitzer, and others who remain sidelined currently, into contention as soon as possible.
Manchester United were unable to add to the six-point gap over Tottenham Hotspur in the race for a top-four place, after the Londoners came from two goals behind to hold us to a draw. The Premier League contest at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium finished 2-2, after the Reds had gone in at the break two […]
Following our FA Cup semi-final triumph, Manchester United return to London this week for a Premier League clash against fellow top-four contenders Tottenham Hotspur. This game will be the Reds’ third fixture played away from Old Trafford in a week, having suffered Europa League defeat in Spain last Thursday before bouncing back to succeed in […]
Erik ten Hag admitted he was disappointed to have been held to a draw by Tottenham Hotspur, given how the first 45 minutes unfolded for his Manchester United side. But the manager said he would have taken a point before the game, given the exertions of the past week when the Reds had to play […]
