Tim Fosu-Mensah injury adds to Manchester United woes

By Mark Ashenden

Jose Mourinho says United wanted to offer more in the 0-0 draw at City

Manchester United's injury crisis in defence deepened on Thursday when Tim Fosu-Mensah limped off after the Manchester derby.

The 19-year-old Dutch defender came on for Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the 86th minute after Marouane Fellaini was sent off with United hanging on for a draw in the closing stages at the Etihad.

While Jose Mourinho was satisfied to secure a point in the 0-0 stalemate, he will be less happy with the prospect of dealing with two more absences for this weekend's match with Swansea at Old Trafford.

Fellaini's straight red card for headbutting City striker Sergio Aguero means he will be suspended for Sunday's Premier League clash against Swansea and Fosu-Mensah's injury follows the news that Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcos Rojo suffered bad knee injuries.

Mourinho told Sky Sports: "Tim Fosu-Mensah is injured. He's really injured in the last action of the game, in the last tackle he was on the floor, and it's also an important injury."

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It will also be a huge blow to Fosu-Mensah, who is trying to make his mark at Old Trafford. He was making only his third Premier League appearance of the season on Thursday night.

The latest injury means United have only 14 senior outfield players available for the visit of Paul Clement's side, but Mourinho remains positive with five league games left and two legs of the Europa League semi-final with Celta Vigo coming up.

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Image: Tim Fosu-Mensah came on with four minutes left at the Etihad

"I think we have played 18 more matches than Liverpool," Mourinho added.

"Eighteen more matches is like half of a Premier League, 18 matches are many miles in the players' legs, so you can say that is an unfair fight.

"But we are going for that, we know that we have the semi-final on Thursday and we have a match on Sunday.

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"We lost two more players - Fellaini and Fosu-Mensah. I don't think we recover any one of the others.

"But we go for it, we fight. They have amazing spirit and here we go again on Sunday."

Paul Pogba (muscle) and Juan Mata (groin) are still out while it is unclear when defenders Chris Smalling (knee) and Phil Jones (foot) will be back in action.

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