INJURY BLOW FOR BAILLY

Manchester United's defensive ranks were depleted by another head injury on Sunday evening, when Eric Bailly was forced to leave the field during the first half of the Emirates FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea.

The Ivory Coast international had been selected in a back three with Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire but he was unable to complete the first 45 minutes after colliding with the latter.

Bailly and Maguire clashed accidentally when both men went to challenge Chelsea's centre-forward Olivier Giroud and although the captain had to have his head bandaged, it was Eric who came off worse.

After a long break in play to allow the players to receive treatment, leading to eleven minutes of injury time, Bailly was carried off the field on a stretcher and taken to hospital.

Shortly before the decisive blow, he had needed attention from the club's medical staff after also bumping heads with opposing centre-back Kurt Zouma.

Bailly was making his second start since the resumption of the 2019/20 season, as he was previously in the line-up for the FA Cup quarter-final win over Norwich City.

The defender was replaced at Wembley by striker Anthony Martial, with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer opting to change his formation from the 3-4-1-2 that began the contest.

On a more positive note regarding injuries, Brandon Williams was back in the team six days after he needed stitches in a head wound. The young left-back collided with Southampton's Kyle Walker-Peters during last Monday's 2-2 draw in the Premier League at Old Traffford.