Carrick has been hit with an injury blowplaceholder image
Carrick has been hit with an injury blow | Getty Images
Manchester United have been hit with a big injury blow ahead of clashes with a trio of London clubs.
Carrick has led Man United to wins over Manchester City and Arsenal, moving up to fourth place as a consequence, though while those wins are no small achievement, Carrick will be judged on how he manages during a stickier spell.
Next comes a home clash with Fulham for the Red Devils before Tottenham come to town on February 7. Three days later, the Red Devils then head to West Ham in the mid-week, on February 10 to round off three straight games against London clubs.
Fulham are up to seventh in the league after a big win over Brighton last time out, while Tottenham can only dream of such a position, now in 14th spot and with their season crumbling in front of their eyes. West Ham are, of course, in relegation trouble, five points from safety, but they have picked up some much-needed confidence after beating Spurs and Sunderland.
Man Utd injury blow
For all of those games, Man Utd will be without key player Patrick Dorgu, who scored an absolute screamer against Arsenal over the weekend. Later in the game, Dorgu picked up a hamstring injury during the game, and according to The Athletic , he will miss up to 10 weeks of action, though the injury is still being assessed to get a more concrete timeline.
What the Red Devils do know is that Dorgu will be out until after the March international break. Elsewhere, Man Utd are doing pretty well with injuries, with only Mathijs de Ligt out with a back injury.
Speaking after the game, Carrick said of Dorgu’s performance: "Pat has been a big, big player for us over the last couple of games, in so many ways. Obviously attacking wise he's scored goals, but I think in terms of the threat and his athleticism and his quality coming in as well and the connections, I think.
“Defensively, he's been immense as well down the side with Luke [Shaw] doubling up against two teams that ask a lot of questions down the sides. So it's a big, big job for him. I’m delighted for him, because the two goals he's scoring they're very different goals but he's put so much into the performances, it's nice to see him smiling and happy. He obviously came off with, hopefully, a little bit of cramp.
“Hopefully it's nothing worse, but he ended up coming off and it just shows what he put into the performance, and hopefully he's not too bad."
Carrick, of course, was not aware of the hamstring injury at the time of those comments.
Carrick on fast start
Speaking about his start on the Man Utd touchline, Carrick said: “I understood what a tough two games it was to start with, but we've got tough games coming up. These are the best ones to win in terms of getting that feeling and that emotion - getting that confidence and that lift.
“The boys have been fantastic, we've had less than two weeks together to put things in place and to try to do the things we've asked. There's still layers that we want to get to. We want to improve. But in terms of what it's taken to win these two games, they've done great.”
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