Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has confessed he is likely to be without as many as six defenders for the trip to Chelsea on Wednesday.
The Red Devils are primarily focused on the upcoming Europa League final, with their domestic matches serving mostly for pride. Amorim admitted that his Premier League lineups will consider the upcoming final in Bilbao.
Defenders Lisandro Martinez and Jonny Evans remain long-term injuries, and Ayden Heaven has been sidelined since March. Recently, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, and Diogo Dalot have also suffered injuries.
Amorim revealed that not only are most of these players expected to miss the game against Chelsea, but they are also struggling to be fit in time for the Europa League final against Tottenham Hotspur next week.
“I don’t know if they’re going to be available [for the final],” Amorim said. “We’re going to try and push. All the players want to play really bad. I don’t think they’ll go to Chelsea, but there’s a possibility for some in the final.”
Amorim confirmed he will pick United’s team to face Chelsea based largely around protecting his most-important players for next week’s final.
“I know the starting XI I am thinking for Chelsea, then I will see,” he said. “Even the way we play there, against Chelsea, I will see it and it’s going to be important for the next one.
“We need to perform and they need to perform. That is the important thing. Then we are going to, the same way, if there is a player that can get an injury [and is] not recovered for this game so [it] will put him in risk for the final, he will not play.
“But if it’s not that situation, we will have a lot of time to recover. And we cannot spend eight days, nine days without a game. That is a bad thing for the final so I think they will be prepared for the game.”
