United Hit By Major Injury Blow With Rooney Ruled Out Of Sunderland Clash

Manchester United have been hit by an injury blow ahead of their clash with Sunderland tomorrow with Wayne Rooney set to miss out with a groin injury.

Reports in this mornings newspapers claimed that Rooney was a major doubt to face the Black Cats after being forced out of training on Thursday with what initially appeared to be a stomach complaint.

The Mirror suggested it could have been a simple stomach bug and Ryan Giggs had asked the striker to leave training to prevent him passing it on to his team mates, but the 28-year-old was sent for a scan to assess whether he had actually picked up an injury.

However, it appears the scans have showed Rooney has suffered a minor groin injury with BBC journalist Ben Smith claiming on Twitter this morning that the striker has now been ruled out of Saturday’s game with Sunderland at Old Trafford.

Wayne Rooney will miss #MUFC's match against Sunderland with minor groin strain injury I mentioned last night

— Ben Smith (@BenSmithBBC) May 2, 2014

Rooney has only just fully recovered from a toe injury that he picked up against Bayern Munich in United’s Champions League first leg last month, and he required painkilling injections to get through the second leg in Germany.

With United sitting six points adrift of sixth-placed Tottenham in the table, they have very little left to play for this season, so Giggs is likely to be cautious with Rooney – particularly with the World Cup just around the corner. The last thing they want is to play him in a meaningless game and aggravate the problem, potentially putting his World Cup hopes in jeopardy.

Danny Welbeck or Javier Hernandez are expected to battle-it-out to replace Rooney up front tomorrow, although Robin van Persie could be back in contention having returned to training following six weeks out with a knee injury.