Manchester United’s victory over Liverpool on Monday night has kickstarted their season following two defeats in their opening two games, but now full attention turns to securing consecutive wins when they face Southampton on Saturday.
Erik ten Hag was able to welcome back Anthony Martial to the side against Liverpool for his first appearance of the season, but he is now set for another spell on the sidelines, while the Dutchman still continues to operate without a couple of players who are yet to make full recoveries.
Here is all you need to know about the current state of play at Old Trafford and the expected return dates for those out injured.
Anthony Martial
United's French forward only return from injury in Monday's victory over Liverpool but is now set to head straight back out of action ahead of Saturday's clash with Southampton after picking up yet another injury at this early stage of the season.
Martial featured off the bench to make his first appearance of the new campaign against the Reds at the start of the week, playing for 44 minutes of the contest and grabbing the assist for Marcus Rashford's winner, but Ten Hag has since revealed that he will be out of action once again with an Achilles problem.
Speaking on Friday, Ten Hag said: "Anthony is not fit. He came out [of the Liverpool match] with a problem on his Achilles, so we have to wait. I cannot tell a prognosis on how long it takes, but we hope he will be available for the [Leicester] game."
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Victor Lindelof
Swedish defender Victor Lindelof has been left out of United’s first three matchday squads of the season after picking up an injury and hasn’t featured since starting in the 1-0 friendly defeat to Atletico Madrid in pre-season on July 30.
Lindelof had picked up a knock prior to the opening weekend defeat to Brighton on August 7 and was still deemed unfit for Monday’s 2-1 defeat of Liverpool. However, Ten Hag also revealed last week that he is yet to return to training and will be expected to miss out against Southampton if that remains the case.
In his last update on August 19, Ten Hag said: "Victor has not returned to the training pitch."
Facundo Pellistri
United youngster Facundo Pellistri has been forced out of United’s first three games of the season after picking up an ankle sprain during the 1-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid in their penultimate pre-season friendly of the summer at the end of last month.
Pellistri came on as a 76th minute substitute for Anthony Elanga in that game, but was forced off through injury just 15 minutes later and will continue to remain on the sidelines until next month, meaning he is once again ruled out of Saturday’s clash with Southampton.
In his last update on August 12, Ten Hag said: "The prognosis is that he will not return before September."
Brandon Williams
United left back Brandon Williams continues to recover from the ‘small issue’ that he picked up over the summer which ruled him out of every pre-season game and the opening three fixtures of the 2022-23 campaign.
Last month, the 21-year-old took to Instagram to say: "My injury, I told myself to deal with it and bounce back stronger. My goal is to play in-front of the best fans in the world", yet it is expected that he will continue to miss out on Saturday, while his future at the club still remains in the balance.
However, Williams is said to be nearing a return to match fitness and is prepared to reassess his options when the January transfer window opens, due to the poor form of United’s current full back options and his ability to operate at both right back and left back.
