There was a surprising omission from Manchester United ’s trip to Leicester City in Saturday’s Premier League match.
United fell to a heavy 4-2 defeat at the Foxes on a sobering day for the side as their poor run of results continued.
There was no place in the matchday squad for striker Anthony Martial, who had scored the goal last time out for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side, in a 1-1 draw at home to Everton.
That was a rare start for the Frenchman – just his third of the campaign following the league draw at Southampton and EFL Cup defeat against West Ham.
Yet it was his first half goal that gave United the lead at home to Everton and he was substituted off 12 minutes after the break for Cristiano Ronaldo to take his place.
That coincided with Everton coming back into the encounter and earning a deserved draw from Old Trafford as Andros Townsend equalised – with Yerry Mina’s late goal correctly being ruled out by VAR for offside.
Yet the 25-year-old missed out on the ill-fated trip to Leicester this weekend with Solskjaer confirming ahead of the match that he had suffered an injury while on international duty with France.
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Solskjaer told MUTV ahead of kick off on Saturday: “No, he's come back from France [duty] not fit so he's not trained all week.
“Hopefully we can have him back soon.”
Ahead of the match, the United boss also explained why club captain Harry Maguire was included in the starting line-up despite only returning to full training late this week.
Solskjaer explained: “Of course, it's great to have him back as Harry is a big player for us.
“He came through the session [on Friday] alright and had no reaction to it. He's done lots of work with the physios and a load of rehab work. There's no reaction, so he's ready.”
United endured an afternoon to forget at the King Power Stadium, despite Mason Greenwood giving them an early lead with a superb individual goal.
Leicester were on top for most of the match and Youri Tielemans levelled the score before the break and goals from Caglar Soyuncu, Jamie Vardy and Patson Daka saw them run out comprehensive 4-2 victors, despite Marcus Rashford netting late on for the hosts.
It is a result that turns up the pressure on United boss Solskjaer, with the side now with just one point from their last three league matches.
