Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed why French striker Anthony Martial was not in Manchester United’s squad to face Burnley.
Martial was a scoring substitute last Friday night when the Reds beat Arsenal in London in the Emirates FA Cup fourth-round tie. He came on for Alexis Sanchez in the 72nd minute and struck 10 minutes later with the match-clinching third goal that set up a fifth-round clash with Chelsea next month.
But the 23-year-old French international subsequently picked up an injury.
“He [Martial] got a slight injury in training but hopefully he'll be back for next weekend,”
said Solskjaer on MUTV. “But there was no chance he could play today so it was easy enough to put Romelu [Lukaku] on the pitch.”
Other than the Martial situation, United’s caretaker boss made five changes from the team that started against Arsenal in the cup.
David De Gea returned in goal after his rest in the capital. Phil Jones replaced Eric Bailly in the centre of defence and Andreas Pereira started for the first time since the FA Cup third-round win against Reading at Old Trafford on 5 January.
“Andreas has been fantastic in training. He really has been determined. He was disappointed with his game against Reading and we had a little chat about it. He's been really working hard and I think he deserves a chance,”
added United's caretaker boss.
“Ander [Herrera] has been different class but, this time, you know we need to rotate a little bit.”
Juan Mata and Marcus Rashford were also recalled to the starting XI, as Jesse Lingard, Alexis Sanchez and Herrera made way for the visit of Sean Dyche's side.
“There's a couple of small little niggles that we need to protect and a little bit of rotation as we have loads of games coming up,”
said Solskjaer.
United extended their unbeaten run in the Solskjaer era to nine games against a spirited Burnley side, who looked to be heading for a first victory in M16 since 1962, when Chris Woods gave them a 2-0 advantage in the 81st minute.
With just minutes remaining, Paul Pogba's penalty gave United a lifeline, and Victor Lindelof's stoppage-time equaliser salvaged a thrilling point.
This article was updated at 12:00 on Wednesday 30 January.