Manchester United have confirmed that defender Eric Bailly has been ruled of action for the remaining two games of the Premier League season with a knee injury.
The club have revealed that the centre-half sustained a medial ligament injury to his right knee which saw him taken off in the second-half of the 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday.
United are due to face Huddersfield Town this Sunday, a game which will be broadcast live on Off The Ball, and relegation strugglers Cardiff City in their final two top-flight games.
In a further blow to Bailly, the injury means that he won't be available for the Ivory Coast in this summer's Africa Cup of Nations.
The West African nation are in a group with Morocco, South Africa and Namibia in the tournament which gets underway in Egypt this summer.
Bailly injury gives Solskjaer a big defensive headache
The injury caps off a disappointing season for the 25-year-old who has only featured in 18 games for the Red Devils this term, 12 in the Premier League, and it leaves manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer short of options in an already stretched position.
Doubts remain around England internationals Chris Smalling and Phil Jones who missed the Chelsea game due to fitness concerns.
Solskjaer is due to give an update at the pre-match press conference on Friday with Victor Lindelof and Marcos Rojo the last two centre-backs available if there is no improvement with Smalling and Jones.
Meanwhile, United striker Romelu Lukaku has acknowledged David de Gea's poor run of form after the latest error from the goalkeeper in the Chelsea game led to the concession of another goal.
A poor save from an Antonio Rudiger shot saw the Spaniard palm the ball into the path of Marcos Alonso who pounced for the equaliser.
"He had a bad time at the start of his United career as I remember and he was just a kid then but came through it," Lukaku said.
"He did what he had to do then, turned it round, won trophies and became the best player at the club and he is a leader in the dressing room.
"Now it is up to us as a team to help him and trust in his abilities."
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