Manchester United winger Anthony Martial to miss Leicester City clash with calf injury

Manchester United winger Anthony Martial is poised to miss the Reds' Premier League game against Leicester City on Saturday (24 September) due to injury. The 20-year-old Frenchman was substituted during United's 3-1 loss to Watford last weekend after sustaining a head injury, but is unavailable for their latest match because of a contusion in the calf.

Martial was withdrawn by manager Jose Mourinho during the game at Vicarage Road after a nasty-looking clash of heads with Dutchman Daryl Janmaat.

The pacey forward was considered to be a doubt for the game against Leicester due to the head injury, but recently tweeted to say his condition was improving. He wrote: "Feel much better today. Thanks for all your support and your messages!"

And earlier today (23 September), Martial revealed he had returned to the training field, suggesting he was in contention to face the defending Premier League champions. However, Mourinho has now confirmed during a prematch press conference that Martial will be unavailable for selection.

Despite the injury setback, Mourinho said he is looking forward to the game against Leicester at Old Trafford. "Leicester are very good, they are a very easy team to analyse and understand, their attacking organisation is difficult to cope with," he said, according to The Mirror. "They are easy to understand, difficult to play against."

However, the United boss warned that Claudio Ranieri's men face a tough task in trying to retain the Premier League crown. Mourinho pointed out that only Sir Alex Ferguson and himself have accomplished the feat during the Premier League era.

The United manager – who won back-to-back titles during his first spell in charge of Chelsea – quipped: "I think it is difficult to retain the title, history says. Not many teams can retain title, one of the teams was United, another one was some team managed from the worst manager in history."