Head Coach Slaven Bilić confirmed that captain Tom Cleverley was forced to miss Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw at Burnley with a thigh injury sustained in the warm-up.
After recovering from an achilles problem the 33-year-old featured for the first time since August in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Blackburn Rovers, as a 71st-minute substitute, and had been named in the starting XI ahead of kick-off at Turf Moor.
Ken Sema was ultimately drafted into the line-up, with James Morris taking his place on the bench, and at full-time Bilić explained that Cleverley’s absence wasn’t related to his previous setback.
“It’s a big blow for us,” he said. “He’s our captain and we’ve been waiting a long time for him to come back.
“It doesn’t look good. The achilles is okay, but he felt a pop in his thigh and that’s never a good sign.
“I’d be happy if it was only a couple of weeks [out]. Let’s see how he is when we assess him.”
