Marouane Fellaini 'lucky' to avoid serious injury as further Manchester United absentees confirmed

Manchester United will join Tottenham Hotspur in missing seven senior players – including a trio of influential midfielders – for their next Champions League fixture away to CSKA Moscow on Wednesday evening (27 September).

Paul Pogba remains sidelined with the hamstring issue that forced him off in the first half of an opening Group A victory over FC Basel earlier this month, while Marouane Fellaini sustained a blow to his left Achilles following a tackle from Shane Long during Saturday's 1-0 Premier League defeat of Southampton at St Mary's.

Marcos Rojo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are not expected to return from their respective long-term knee injuries until after Christmas and Jose Mourinho revealed during his pre-match press conference that veteran Michael Carrick was also now unavailable.

He later told MUTV that rejuvenated centre-back Phil Jones would similarly miss that clash with CSKA, while the Manchester Evening News report that Antonio Valencia has not travelled either.

"We don't have Fellaini, Pogba or Carrick, so all three midfield players we lose for this match, so the solutions are not many," Mourinho told reporters, per The Mirror.

"But we try not to focus on individual battles on the pitch, we are going to have a team with quality and balance to try to win the match, which is the objective."

While he offered no fresh update on Pogba's injury and any potential need for surgery, Mourinho, likely to partner Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera in Russia after the former recovered from a knock, confirmed his belief that Fellaini would not require an extended period of time on the sidelines. He will, however, miss the weekend visit of Crystal Palace to Old Trafford.

Mourinho further suggested that Fellaini was lucky not to have been seriously hurt in a challenge that referee Craig Pawson, who banished Mourinho from the touchline in second-half stoppage time at Southampton, only deemed worthy of a yellow card.

"For me Craig Pawson is one of the big referee talents in England. He was so calm and in control, I think he had a great performance. It was only when I saw it on TV that I realised that Fellaini was very lucky [not to have a serious injury]. I do not expect him to be out for long."

Russian speaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan also addressed the media in Moscow on Tuesday afternoon, just as he did before last season's Europa League round of 16 tie against FC Rostov. However, Mourinho stressed that his presence did not necessarily guarantee that he would be starting against CSKA.

"Normally we bring players here [to the press conference] who are starting," he said. "Mkhitaryan is coming here [to speak] because he speaks Russian. I'm not saying Mkhi starts tomorrow. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't, but I try to make it as easy as I can [for the Russian media]."