Man Utd injury news: Shaw, Šeško and Rashford before Chelsea

Update (30 Oct): this page is now our running Man Utd injury tracker. It replaces our 16 October list, which was written before Leeds and is out of date. We'll update it after every press conference and squad announcement.

Man Utd injury news before Chelsea is better than it was a week ago, and still awkward in exactly the wrong places. Kobbie Mainoo and Lisandro Martínez are in the 22 who took the train from Stockport on Friday afternoon. Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford are not, and Benjamin Šeško won't be back until the new year.

The Manchester Evening News published the travelling squad on Friday:

• Goalkeepers: Lammens, Darlow, Heaton, Mee
• Defenders: Maguire, Martínez, De Ligt, Heaven, Yoro, Dalot, Mazraoui
• Midfielders: Fernandes, Baleba, Mainoo, Mount, Santos, Tielemans
• Forwards: Mbeumo, Amad, Cunha, Lacey, Zirkzee

Read the defenders again. There isn't a specialist left-back in it.

Who's out and when they're due back

Benjamin Šeško (shin): January. Carrick confirmed on Thursday that the striker faces a long lay-off. "Unfortunately Ben looks like he's going to be out for a period of time. We're still not clear of exactly how long, but it's going to be for a longer period of time," he said. The January date comes from reporting, not the club. We've covered what Šeško's shin injury means for the attack separately.

Luke Shaw (undisclosed): November at the earliest. Shaw hasn't played since the 1-1 draw with Spurs on 10 October, the game in which Rodrigo Bentancur was sent off for going head to head with him. Carrick said earlier this month that Shaw would take longer than Mainoo. He didn't return to training this week and wasn't seen with the squad on Friday.

Patrick Dorgu (hamstring): around 22 November. Dorgu was hurt during the September international break. That's the date given in the Guardian's weekend team news. United haven't put a timeframe on it.

Marcus Rashford (hip and thigh): possibly Roma on Tuesday. He was an unused substitute at Leeds, then missed Como and Bournemouth. He wasn't spotted travelling either. Roma at Old Trafford on 3 November is the earliest realistic target, but nobody at the club has said so.

Manuel Ugarte: still listed as injured, with no return date.

Back, but how fit?

Kobbie Mainoo. The best news of the week. He's missed four games with a muscle problem, and United lost three and drew one of them. "Good news, Kobbie's done a little bit of training yesterday, so he's back in and around the group, so that's obviously a positive," Carrick said on Thursday. He went back into full training on Wednesday. Two sessions isn't much, so a start at Stamford Bridge would be a gamble. Thirty minutes off the bench is more likely.

Lisandro Martínez. He came off at half-time at Elland Road after feeling his thigh, missed Como and returned as a substitute against Bournemouth. That cameo ended with Evanilson beating Senne Lammens to a long ball for the third goal. For us, he's still behind Maguire, Yoro and De Ligt for a start.

Matthijs de Ligt. He's fit and available after back surgery. He made his comeback at Como, his first game since 30 November last year, and lasted until the 79th minute of a 4-1 defeat.

Ayden Heaven. Fully over the illness that kept him out at Leeds. He started against Bournemouth.

The pattern that matters

Count the absences and United's injury list isn't catastrophic. Look at the positions and it's a different story. In the two places where there's no cover, the club is down to nothing.

At left-back, Shaw and Dorgu are both out. Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot are both right-backs by trade, and Harry Amass, the academy left-back who came on at Como, isn't in the 22. That's the gap we wrote about in the left-back United never bought, and it's no longer just a summer-window talking point. It's the team sheet.

Up front, Šeško's absence leaves Joshua Zirkzee as the only natural centre-forward in the squad. Carrick has preferred Bryan Mbeumo or Bruno Fernandes in a false nine. Zirkzee's stoppage-time goal at Como, from an Amad cross, is his best case for a start.

Chelsea have their own problems. Maxence Lacroix and Jorrel Hato are out, and their keeper Emiliano Martínez is still recovering from jaw surgery. We go through their team news in our Chelsea vs Man Utd preview.

Our call for Saturday

With no left-back, Carrick should stop pretending he has one. Go back to the back three that gave United their best half of the season at Leeds. Yoro, Maguire and De Ligt across the middle, with Dalot and Amad as wing-backs. That way nobody is stranded one-on-one on the left. Bring Mainoo on at the hour, not before. Shaw's return in November matters more than any one result this month, and rushing him would be the most United thing possible.

Picture: Kobbie Mainoo warming up before England v Ghana at the 2026 World Cup, by Bryan Berlin via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped to 16:9.