A tense moment and dense thick cloud hangs over the Manchester United’s training camp following the loss of four key players to injury in a game that was critical to both teams.
Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard has offered a cryptic injury update ahead of the Premier League trip to Crystal Palace on Wednesday.
Lingard was one of four injury worries to come out of the draw with Liverpool at the weekend, as he replaced Juan Mata in the first half but was substituted himself 18 minutes later.
The attacking midfielder had missed the previous game at Chelsea through an injury picked up in the Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, and now faces another spell on the sidelines at an important part of the season.
After the Liverpool draw, United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was hoping for positive injury news on Lingard, Mata, Ander Herrera and Marcus Rashford. Nemanja Matic and Anthony Martial also missed the Liverpool game through injury themselves.
And Lingard offered an injury update to Instagram on Monday night, posting a picture of him lying with his arms over his face on the Old Trafford pitch from Sunday.
But despite the negative picture, Lingard posted two emojis spelling the words ‘Back soon’ followed by: “Repair and recover.”
From the post, it seems unlikely Lingard will be involved at Crystal Palace, but he could be set for a smaller period out of action than was first feared.
To counter the first team injuries, Solskjaer could call upon James Garner, Angel Gomes and Tahith Chong from the youth team, after the trio were left out of the U23s game against Reading on Monday.