Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has provided an injury update on left-backs Luke Shaw and Brandon Williams ahead of Thursday evening’s crucial Premier League game against Crystal Palace.
Solskjaer’s men desperately need to win at Selhurst Park to maintain pace with top four rivals Chelsea and Leicester, but have been struck by injury doubts to two full-backs ahead of the fixture.
The pair both had to be brought off in Monday evening’s frustrating 2-2 draw against Southampton at Old Trafford.
Shaw, who has started every game in United’s 18-game unbeaten run, rolled his ankle in the second-half and was replaced by Williams.
However, Williams then had to be brought off after a sickening clash of heads with Saints right-back Kyle Walker-Peters that resulted in blood gushing from the academy graduate’s face.
Solskjaer spoke to the media ahead of Thursday’s game and did not rule out either player, saying he will give them both time to make full recoveries.
“Luke has got, well, a swollen ankle,” he said in Wednesday morning’s press conference, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News.
“I’ll give him as much time as possible to recover, it was a twisted ankle, Brandon cut up his eye, I don’t really know, none of them trained yesterday, they were both swollen and I’ll give them as much time as possible to let the swollen go away.”
Shaw’s injury appeared to be more concerning than Williams’ but it’s encouraging to hear that it does not seem as severe as first feared.
But it may still be worth resting the 25-year-old against Palace, regardless of whether he makes a full recovery with the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Wembley just three days later.
Williams had stitches in the aftermath of his collision against Southampton and will hopefully be ready to start against Palace on Thursday evening.
Otherwise, Solskjaer will have to rely on Diogo Dalot or largely untried academy star Ethan Laird to fill-in at left-back.
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