Manchester United’s injury woes show no sign of abating as coach Louis van Gaal is expected to be without nine first-team players for their trip to Bournemouth on Saturday.
Through a combination of injuries and suspensions, the United squad is severely depleted in what is an important game for the club as they look to bounce back from their disappointment in the Champions League in midweek.
Having failed to make the knockout stages of the competition and been relegated to the Europa League, the focus switches to winning a Premier League title this season for Van Gaal and his players, but they face a difficult trip to the Vitality Stadium this weekend.
Bastian Schweinsteiger will sit out the first of his three-match ban after being punished by the FA for his elbow on Winston Reid in the clash with West Ham United at Old Trafford last weekend.
Meanwhile, Chris Smalling and Matteo Darmian have become the latest players to be hit with injury problems, as they suffered groin and hamstring issues respectively, according to Sky Sports.
Ander Herrera joins them in the treatment room with a hamstring injury too, and so they will be added to a list that already contains Wayne Rooney, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia.
It remains to be seen what Van Gaal opts to do in order to survive the current crisis, as the Dutch tactician will have to choose between putting his faith in youngsters or playing his other stars out of their natural positions.
Regardless of the option that he chooses, he knows he will be under intense pressure to return to Manchester with a positive result this weekend.
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