David de Gea and Chris Smalling face a race to be fit for Manchester United’s clash with Arsenal after Louis van Gaal ruled the pair out of Thursday’s Europa League meeting with FC Midtylland.
With just 72 hours between European commitments and their game at home to Arsene Wenger’s side Van Gaal will be concerned at the prospect of being without the two keystones of his defence against an Arsenal side who tore United apart in the corresponding fixture in October.
The match ended 3-0 to Arsenal, since then United have won just 10 of the 27 games they have played.
De Gea has already missed two games since suffering a knee injury in the warm-up to last Thursday’s 2-1 defeat to Midtylland in Denmark, whilst Smalling injured himself by colliding with an advertising hoarding in Monday’s FA Cup victory at Shrewsbury.
Arsenal's Premier League run-in
“It's the second day after a match, so I cannot say [the exact injuries] because we shall do everything to recover the players,” Van Gaal said ahead of tomorrow’s game against Midtylland, where United must overturn a 2-1 deficit at Old Trafford to progress to the round of 16.
“[Antonio] Valencia is not ready to play, [Adnan] Januzaj also. [Marcos] Rojo maybe, but that is dependable on other players. "I was hoping for [De Gea and Smalling to play], but they shall not be involved. That is certain.”
Van Gaal is currently without 13 players, including captain Wayne Rooney, central midfielders Marouane Fellaini and Bastian Schweinsteiger and at least five players capable of playing at full-back.
