Anthony Martial is losing his race to be fit for Paris Saint-Germain.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is resigned to being without the France international as Manchester United bid to overturn a 2-0 deficit in the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie on Wednesday.
Martial is still to recover from the groin injury he picked up in the first leg – and despite Solskjaer’s desperation to get him back for the Parc des Princes, he refuses to risk longer-term issues as United pursue a top-four finish.
It means Marcus Rashford and Romelu Lukaku are likely to be deployed in a two-man attack, with Solskjaer set to alter the shape of his team.
Ander Herrera, Nemanja Matic, Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata are also key injury absentees, while Paul Pogba is suspended.
Alexis Sanchez added to United’s concerns after suffering suspected knee ligament damage in Saturday’s 3-2 win against Southampton.
Martial is the one Solskjaer hoped to have back, but with Arsenal coming up on Sunday in a six-pointer in the race for Champions League qualification, United’s interim manager does not want to gamble.
“I don’t think we can risk it,” he said. “He has not been training yet so I don’t think so.
“We have been away to Arsenal and Tottenham with a diamond and done really well so we have just got to think about how we are going to do things.”
Solskjaer can at least call upon a resurgent Lukaku, who has scored four goals in his last two appearances.
“He knows what his strengths are and his strengths are going towards goal, finishing, running in behind,” said the Norwegian.
“When we get him too deep in the pitch maybe that doesn’t suit him at times, but he has responded fantastically to everyone who wants to criticise him.
“There is no one who practices finishing as much as he does. And he scores so many goals in training.
“If we should do a score chart in training, he is the one that scores the most by a mile.”
