Manchester United last played a football match on Thursday, a 2-0 win over Sheriff Tiraspol in the UEFA Europa League. Their Premier League fixture with Leeds United at Old Trafford this past weekend was postponed due to security concerns ahead of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral today. The previous weekend’s fixture, against Crystal Palace, was cancelled out of respect to the monarch’s passing. This means that their last league fixture actually staged was Sept. 4.
That means by the time they play next, Oct 2 at City for the Manchester Derby, it will be almost a month (29 days) in between domestic fixtures. It will have been 17 days since the squad has seen any action at all.
Football fans vs the royal mourning pic.twitter.com/69kg9X2dve
— Simpsons Arsenal (@SimpsonsArsenal) September 12, 2022
Hey, they’ll be well rested! Of course, further fixture congestion, taken to a more extreme level, awaits. And with that, the potential for new injuries is very high. But we can worry about that later, now let’s took at the recovery timetables for two currently injured players- forwards Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford.
With Martial, there is no specific return date in target because he’s battling an Achilles injury.
Those can be extremely tricky, and often serious if mismanaged, and thus we don’t really have an update right now about when the might resume training.
But ICYMI, you should really read the very candid remarks he made about two of his former managers at United- Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (read that here) Martial has only featured once this season, coming off the bench to contribute an assist in the win over Liverpool on August 22. As for Rashford, he’s missed the last two matches, both in UEL, due to a muscular injury he picked up in that last league game, against Arsenal.
He himself confirmed that his injury is the reason he wasn’t selected for the England national team this round of international competition.
According to multiple outlets, he/the club is eyeing a return for the Manchester Derby. Rashford, who still has hopes of making the England World Cup squad, has three goals and two assists in six Premier League starts this season.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him and the website on Twitter and Instagram.