Anthony Martial has been ruled out of Saturday's FA Cup final after straining his hamstring in Manchester United's final game of the season.
Martial has been deployed as United's starting striker in recent weeks, taking the place of loanee Wout Weghorst in the Red Devils' line-up. The Frenchman was rested for United's win over Fulham last week in their final match before facing rivals Manchester City in the showpiece event at Wembley.
He came off the bench to play the final 23 minutes of the Premier League clash, which United won 2-1 thanks to goals from Jadon Sancho and Bruno Fernandes. That appeared to be part of plan to ensure he would be fit for the clash with City this coming Saturday.
But boss Erik ten Hag's plans have instead been thrown into chaos, with Martial ruled out of the match with a hamstring problem. It now appears Weghorst is in line to start at Wembley despite his struggles for goals this term.
Martial had scored nine goals in all competitions for the Red Devils this season, having seen the start of his campaign heavily disrupted by injury. The Frenchman is likely fighting to save his United career, with Ten Hag set to target a new attacker in the summer transfer window.
This latest hamstring issue is Martial's sixth injury this season alone, with the 27-year-old's fragility causing Ten Hag major headaches. He was thought to have lined Martial up as one of his first-choice attackers during pre-season.
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But those plans were quickly dashed, with the attacker missing five of United's first six Premier League games. The Red Devils confirmed the news that Martial had been ruled out of the Wembley showpiece in a statement on Tuesday evening.
"Anthony Martial is out of Saturday’s Emirates FA Cup final against Manchester City due to injury," the statement read.
"The France international strained his hamstring towards the end of Sunday’s 2-1 win against Fulham at Old Trafford. Assessments have since revealed a muscle tear that rules the 27-year-old out of the Wembley showdown."
After the win over Fulham, Ten Hag hailed the strength of his squad, revealing that United would utilise their full squad depth. And he insisted that United had a chance to beat their all-conquering rivals on Saturday.
"We have more than a starting XI of players. We have played so may games this season so you can’t speak about a starting XI. When we pick the team, we look to what our opponents’ strengths and weaknesses are. To finish third is a massive achievement with all the games we had to play," Ten Hag said.
"We played Thursday across the whole season because we play on Thursday in Europe. We don’t always find an ideal schedule, it was often a disadvantage compared to the other team, but we dealt with it and it is why I am very happy we are third in this tough league, behind Manchester City and Arsenal.
"I think you have always a chance in football. History shows we beat them in January. Man United, the last couple of years, beat City many times. These players know when they play at their levels they can compete.
"It’s obvious. We play at this moment the best team, but still there is a chance and we have to go for the chance. We have to give everything and after the game we can’t have excuses for ourselves."
