Manchester United have been dealt a savage injury blow ahead
of Saturday’s trip to Chelsea.
Midfield lynchpin Michael Carrick and defensive trio Marcos
Rojo, Phil Jones, Daley Blind have all been ruled out of the clash with the Premier League
leaders.
Carrick is still suffering from a calf injury picked up in
the 4-2 win over Manchester City while Blind is out
with an ankle problem caused by a Vincent Kompany
tackle.
Rojo has an adductor problem while Jones is ruled out with
an ankle complaint.
With Jonny Evans still suspended, that leaves the United
manager with Chris Smalling,
Paddy McNair and Tyler Blackett as the only available centre-halves.
Van Gaal, whose side can close to within five points of
Chelsea with a win in London, said: "Carrick is injured, he cannot play.
But not only Michael Carrick -
Daley Blind, Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo cannot play.
"It cannot be worse because it's two players in the
left central defensive positions, and Jonny Evans is still
suspended. Blind and Carrick play in the holding position in midfield, so I
have to change my line-up a lot against Chelsea.
"They are all from the game against Manchester City. Blind has played on because he
always wants to play on, but the tackle from [Vincent] Kompany was of course
the reason.
"Jones, I took him off the pitch already because he
injured himself in the second half. Rojo, he was complaining after the match,
and Carrick was also off. So it's not surprising, but we had a big hope that
Blind and Jones could reach this game but they could not."
Left-back Luke Shaw, however, is available having overcome
injury, while Robin van Persie could also be rushed back into action, with Van
Gaal considering dropping Wayne Rooney back into
midfield.
The Dutchman added: "Shaw has trained for a lot of
weeks already so he can play. Van Persie is another story. This is the first
week he's trained with the first team, but maybe we have to think about him.
"Blind and Carrick can play the holding midfield
position, so I don't have any option there.
"So maybe I will have to play Rooney there. Other
players can profit from the situation now."
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