Luke Shaw was forced off midway through the first half of Manchester United’s clash with Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon after a nasty collision with Daniel Muñoz.
The previously injury prone fullback made his 28th consecutive Premier League start at Old Trafford this weekend, comfortably the longest run of consistency in the competition he has enjoyed throughout his entire senior career.
A lightened calendar at Manchester United has undoubtedly aided Shaw’s sustained fitness levels and it was a contact injury which felled the England hopeful against Palace. With the Red Devils trailing to Maxence Lacroix’s fourth-minute opener, Michael Carrick’s side were forced even further onto the back foot by Muñoz’s untimely stamp.
Palace’s adventurous right back went into a 50-50 challenge with Shaw, who arrived first to stab the ball away. Muñoz’s momentum took him forward, seeing him plant his full weight on the top of Shaw’s left foot. After a brief burst of treatment from United’s medical department the 30-year-old was taken off and replaced by the versatile Noussair Mazraoui in the 24th minute.
Man Utd’s Upcoming Fixtures
| Date | Opponent | Reverse Fixture Result |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, March 4 | Newcastle (A) | 1–0 Win |
| Sunday, March 15 | Aston Villa (H) | 2–1 Loss |
| Friday, March 20 | Bournemouth (A) | 4–4 Draw |
| Saturday, April 11 | Leeds (H) | 1–1 Draw |
| Saturday, April 18 | Chelsea (A) | 2–1 Win |
In a season when United will only play 40 competitive games, Shaw’s absence comes at a rare time of gentle fixture congestion. Sunday’s visit from Palace was United’s second game in 18 days yet there are little more than 76 hours between the final whistle of the weekend fixture and the club’s upcoming trip to St James’s Park on Wednesday evening.
Fortunately for Manchester United the Magpies are enduring a ruinous run of domestic results. Newcastle lost their third straight top-flight home match on Saturday for the first time during Eddie Howe’s near half-decade on Tyneside. “In relation to the Premier League, our form has not been good enough for a while,” the manager admitted after this weekend’s 3–2 reverse at the hands of Everton.
In the eyes of Howe, it has been a question of “swayed focus” for a group of players giddy over their Champions League exploits. Manchester United have no such distractions and Shaw will have until Sunday, March 15 to get ready for the club’s subsequent Premier League fixture against another out-of-form outfit distracted by European football; Aston Villa.
How Man Utd Can Replace Luke Shaw
United’s treatment room isn’t overly stuffed but the personnel Shaw may be joining share some concerning traits. Patrick Dorgu and Lisandro Martínez represent the two most obvious choices to replace the newly absent left back.
Dorgu isn’t expected back until the end of March while Martínez has missed United’s past two matches. The World Cup winner was absent on Sunday but Carrick revealed ahead of kickoff that it will only be “a matter of days” before he can call upon his trusted warrior.
Should Martínez not be back for the trip to St James’ Park, Carrick’s only natural left-footed defender in the squad would be Tyrell Malacia. The injury-riddled Netherlands international has not started a Premier League match since December 2024, when he was hooked at half-time during a 3–0 defeat to Bournemouth.
Carrick’s decision to turn to Mazraoui ahead of Malacia on Sunday may very well prove to be instructive. The versatile Morocco international has extensive experience of lining up on the left—when your country can already call upon the world’s best right back, it is a helpful trait—but he doesn’t offer the same natural balance as Shaw from that flank.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Man Utd Dealt Injury Blow to Key Premier League Ever-Present.
