Manchester United return to Old Trafford this afternoon when they host Aston Villa in the Premier League
Carlos Baleba, Patrick Dorgu and Benjamin Sesko
Carlos Baleba, Patrick Dorgu and Benjamin Sesko are all injury concerns for Manchester United(Image: Getty Images)
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Manchester United are back in Premier League action this afternoon when they host Aston Villa. The game is United's last before the international break and could decide Michael Carrick's future at Old Trafford. A win and Carrick should live to fight another day, but anything less puts the former midfielder in jeopardy.
To hand himself the best possible chance of staying at United, Carrick would like to have a full squad to choose from. Unfortunately for him, there are a number of players who are sidelined this afternoon to leave the Reds' head coach with a headache.
With this in mind, MEN Sport has taken a look at the latest injury news from Carrington.
Patrick Dorgu
Injury: Thigh
Dorgu returned ahead of schedule this week. Carrick ruled him out of the game against Roma and added on Friday afternoon: "Patrick's done a little bit of training this week. As you've seen, he trained with us at the start of the week, very, very small. So we've got to be patient with Pat.
"He's had a good period of time now with a couple of hamstrings that we need to manage that and be patient with that over the next few weeks as well. But he's slowly getting back with us, so we'll have to see whether he can be involved at the weekend or not."
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Potential return date: November 8 vs Aston Villa
Carlos Baleba
Injury: Hamstring
After the win on Tuesday, Carrick was unable to give a timeline for Baleba's return. Now, following Friday's press conference, the head coach added: "Carlos, we don't know [when he will be back], but it will be a number of weeks. It's definitely not this week, and it won't be any time over the international break. It'll be a little bit longer than that."
Potential return date: Unknown
Benjamin Sesko
Injury: Shin
Carrick confirmed Sesko's long-term injury last week. He said: "Yeah, unfortunately Ben looks like he's going to be out for a period of time. We're still not clear of exactly how long, but it's going to be for a longer period of time.
"It was the process, as I said to you before, we had to go through the process, a bit of a healing process for the injury to see how it would react and what direction to go with that. Even now we're still working through it.
"But it's unfortunate, obviously first and foremost, for Ben, for the kind of period that he's had, and tried to get through it and going through this again. And for us to not have him available is obviously a blow, but we'll try and get back, get him back as quick as we can."
Potential return date: January
Luke Shaw
Injury: Unknown
Carrick confirmed on Monday that Shaw would not be fit this week, meaning his earliest return date will be after the international break.
Potential return date: November 22 vs Liverpool
Marcus Rashford
Injury: Hip
Rashford's recovery is being assessed 'day by day', Carrick confirmed on Monday. There was no further update on Friday.
Potential return date: November 22 vs Liverpool
Manuel Ugarte
Injury: Knee
Ugarte could be out for the remainder of the season after picking up a serious knee injury. The midfielder continues to recover at Carrington.
Potential return date: 2027