Massive blow for Man Utd! Star defender suffers injury hours before Everton clash

Lisandro Martinez was absent from United's squad list for the trip to Everton, with United sources confirming that he is out injured with a calf problem. The news is a big blow for the Argentine, who had only returned to action in December following eight months out with an ACL injury.

Martinez is set to be out for up to two weeks, meaning he will miss the Everton game and next Sunday's home match against Crystal Palace. It is touch and go whether he will be back to visit Newcastle on March 4. Leny Yoro took the Argentine's place in the line-up, the same day after it was revealed he has been banned from driving for six months at 70 miles per hour in a 30mph zone in Cheshire.

Carrick left Benjamin Sesko out of the line-up for the sixth consecutive game, despite the £74m man rescuing a point for United in their last game at West Ham. Yoro replacing Martinez was the only change Carrick made for the trip to Merseyside, having named identical starting XIs against Tottenham and West Ham.

Carrick has won four and drawn one of his five games since succeeding Ruben Amorim. Former team-mate Edwin van der Sar praised Carrick for restoring United values to the team in his first month in the role.

Van der Sar said: "Manchester United has a culture. Manchester City has a culture; they have changed to a completely different culture. Sometimes people live a lot in history and what a club has achieved in the past and the way teams use to play football. 

"The last three games Manchester United have played it looks a little bit like a United team from the past and that is nice to see for the fans, the belief that they get, the support the team gets – scoring a last-minute goal! 

"As long as we do that in the game and we get the ball towards the goal and we score, that is something we need to believe in and if you can believe in a team – and they’re good players – but they need a certain kind of structure to get the best quality out of them."