Carrick confirms Baleba injury as 10 players set to miss United's clash with Villa

Manchester United will be without at least ten players when they host Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Sunday, with Michael Carrick confirming that Carlos Baleba has joined a lengthy absentee list after picking up an injury in the midweek Champions League fixture.

Carrick, who is under pressure to secure results as United sit 17th in the Premier League with just one league win to their name this season, delivered a sobering injury update at his Friday press conference. “Carlos, we don’t know [when he will be back], but it will be a number of weeks,” he said. “It’s definitely not this week, and it won’t be any time over the international break. It’ll be a little bit longer than that.”

Patrick Dorgu is also a doubt for the Villa game, though Carrick offered cautious optimism about the defender’s progress. Dorgu missed the Roma fixture but has returned to limited training. “He’s done a little bit of training this week — very, very small,” Carrick said. “He’s had a good period of time now with a couple of hamstrings that we need to manage. He’s slowly getting back with us, so we’ll have to see whether he can be involved at the weekend or not.”

Marcus Rashford’s availability remains uncertain, with Carrick having previously described the forward’s recovery as being assessed on a “day-by-day” basis. No fresh update was provided on Friday. Luke Shaw is expected to remain sidelined until after the international break, with a potential return pencilled in for the Liverpool fixture on 22 November.

Benjamin Sesko faces an extended absence, with Carrick last week describing the striker’s timeline as unclear but “a longer period of time”. The United manager explained that the club had needed to go through a healing process before determining the best course of treatment.

The accumulation of injuries leaves Carrick with severely limited options as he attempts to arrest United’s poor early-season form. Three points against Aston Villa would represent only the club’s second league win of the campaign and could prove significant in Carrick’s bid to retain his position as head coach.