Manchester United are experiencing quite a challenging end to the season, with Erik ten Hag’s men still competing on all three remaining fronts.
On top of that, United have already won the Carabao Cup this season, meaning the Reds have played every single game available to them this season.
Recently, that looks to have taken its toll on Ten Hag’s already slim squad, with key first-team regulars dropping like flies lately. The most recent blow came in this week’s Europa League tie against Sevilla, with Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez both withdrawn due to injury.
The pair, who make up Ten Hag’s first-choice centre-back partnership, are expected to miss a sizeable chunk of United’s remaining games, with Martinez ruled out for the entirety of the campaign after sustaining a metatarsal injury.
Stand-in skipper Bruno Fernandes plays whenever he’s fit and speaking ahead of Sunday’s trip to Nottingham Forest, Fernandes has admitted that he is relishing the unprecedented fixture schedule, which will see United play a whopping nine times in April alone.
“We want it to be like that [busy] because we want to play in different competitions,” Fernandes is quoted as saying by the official Manchester United website.
“We still have the chance to win two of them and we still want to be in the top four. So it’s nice to be in that position.
“It’s tough but it’s nice at the same time.”
Fernandes is yet to miss a game due to injury since he joined the club over three years ago, having only dropped out of the team due to illness previously.
Ten Hag already has to deal with the loss of Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Varane and Martinez – he will be wrapping Fernandes in bubblewrap to keep him fit for another six weeks.