As reported by Mirror, United duo Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial have returned to Manchester following their respective breaks in Dubai to push their club for a top four finish.
The duo started against Wolves in the FA Cup before the international break. Although, Lingard played for 86 minutes during their 2-1 loss against Wolves, he was short of full fitness.
During the international break, Jesse Lingard was rested from England’s squad. Meanwhile, Anthony Martial was called upon by France but was forced to withdraw from the squad because of a knee injury he suffered during the FA Cup Quarter-final.
Jesse Lingard, who was injured during the Liverpool game last month, started against Wolves much to Gareth Southgate’s surprise as he excluded him from England’s squad to give him more time to recover.
🚑 Manchester United's international players missing through injury:
❌ Romelu Lukaku
❌ Anthony Martial
❌ Jesse Lingard
❌ Marcus Rashford
❌ Luke Shaw
❌ Nemanja Matic😳 At this rate, they may have to start Mason Greenwood, if none of them are back in time! pic.twitter.com/NerMTX0YS1
— 🎯 Tommy's Darts Tips (@TommysDartsTips) March 21, 2019
During a press conference last week, Southgate said:
“I mean I was surprised that he started the game, but only because he hadn’t trained before the Wednesday so I guess you would have to talk to [Manchester] United as to why they took that decision.”
Manchester United has been in an injury crisis lately, with several key players like Ander Herrera, Alexis Sanchez, Nemanja Matic, Phil Jones, Antonio Valencia, Anthony Martial and several others getting injured at an important point in the season.
Due to this injury crisis, they suffered a 2-0 defeat against Arsenal at the Emirates and crashed out of the FA Cup against Wolves. Adding to this injury list, Romelu Lukaku was sent back from Belgian’s squad due to injury concerns. Thus, return of Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial will inject the much needed boost for their top four hopes.
Manchester United, who are currently fifth in the Premier League, are just 2 points behind fourth placed Arsenal and have a huge mouth watering clash in the Champions league Quarter-final against Barcelona.
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Therefore, it is safe to say that in the coming two months, the Red Devils are going to play very important games which will define the rest of the season. With Pogba and Rashford being in the form of their life, United fans are hopeful about finishing fourth at the end of this season.
But, they can’t be over dependent on both of them, as they need support from other players specially in the attacking sense. Thus, the return of Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard will give them more support going forward as they both have had a two weeks break from football, which I’m sure has allowed them to get to full fitness for this weekend’s clash against Watford.
