Manchester United injury list: Chris Smalling is the 43rd time a player in Louis van Gaal's squad has been injured

Defender was injured in the 2-1 win against Southampton

Tom Sheen
Tuesday 09 December 2014 12:11 GMT
Comments
(Reuters)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Chris Smalling became the latest player to be hit with Manchester United's injury curse after he was substituted in the win against Southampton on Monday night.

Smalling, who had been finding some form in recent weeks, had to be replaced after just 18 minutes with a suspected muscle tear in the 2-1 victory; the England centre-back is likely to be assessed at some point on Tuesday.

The injury was, astoundingly, the 43rd Louis van Gaal has suffered since he took over at Old Trafford in the summer.

The 25-year-old was replaced by Jonny Evans, who made his return to first-team action after a spell on the sidelines. Evans played for the first time since United were humiliated by Leicester on 21 September.

Speaking after the game, Evans said that the players are now "expecting" someone to get injured.

"The way the injury situation has been you're always expecting someone to get injured. So I had to prepare myself mentally for that," he told Sky Sports.

Smalling has joined Angel Di Maria, Luke Shaw, Daley Blind, Rafael, Phil Jones and Jesse Lingard on the sidelines.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in