Team news: Man Utd confirm fresh double injury concern, 4 men could miss Palace trip

Manchester United will be desperate to get back to winning ways when they take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Thursday night.

Ahead of the game, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been speaking to the media at his pre-match conference call today and he’s provided a team news and injury update including the latest on the fitness of Luke Shaw and Brandon Williams.

Shaw has been enjoying a fine run in the United first team lately as he’s started each of the last 18 matches in all competitions and once again lined-up at left-back when the Red Devils took on Southampton on Monday night.

However, the 25-year-old was forced off during the latter stages of the 2-2 draw at Old Trafford after suffering an ankle injury and Solskjaer has confirmed Shaw is now a doubt for the trip to Palace tomorrow evening.

In a double blow, Williams – who replaced Shaw against Southampton – will also need to be assessed at Carrington today after he was forced off against the Saints due to a nasty gash to his head following a clash with Kyle Walker-Peters.

Solskjaer says both Shaw and Williams have swelling around their injuries so he’ll need to give them time to recover before their availability can be determined.

The United boss told ManUtd.com:

“Luke has got a swollen ankle, so hopefully I’ll give him as much time as possible to recover – it was a twist on his ankle,”

“Brandon’s eye, he cut up his eye there, so I don’t really know. We’ve not trained this morning, none of them trained yesterday, so they were both swollen and I’ll give them as much time as possible to get ready.”

If Shaw and Williams are both ruled out tomorrow then Solskjaer is going to have to get creative. Diogo Dalot could be forced to fill-in at left-back while youngster Ethan Laird – who’s also traditionally a right-back – could be another option for the Man Utd boss.

However, Axel Tuanzebe won’t be available for the trip to Palace tomorrow night as he’s been ruled out until September while Phil Jones is also still on the sidelines through injury.

Solskjaer has hinted he’ll freshen things up on Thursday night having named an unchanged line-up in recent weeks. Man Utd have a huge FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea on Sunday so it makes sense for Solskjaer to rotate his squad.

Eric Bailly is pushing for a recall in defence while the likes of Daniel James, Fred, Scott McTominay, Odion Ighalo and Juan Mata are also options for Solskjaer and could be brought in against Palace.

United head to the capital sitting fifth in the Premier League table after blowing their chance to go third with Monday’s draw with Southampton. With Chelsea moving four points clear following their win over Norwich last night, United are under pressure to respond tomorrow.