Man Utd suffer new injury blow as Jonny Evans absence confirmed after picking up thigh injury in Copenhagen loss

ERIK TEN HAG has been dealt another injury blow after Manchester United confirmed Jonny Evans will be sidelined “for the next few weeks”.

The 35-year-old defender made his first Champions League appearance for over a decade against Copenhagen but it ended in agony on Wednesday .

He was chosen instead of Raphael Varane to partner Harry Maguire but he limped off after just 13 minutes with a thigh issue.

United then twice threw away the lead to lose the Champions League clash 4-3 with Marcus Rashford also getting red carded.

With their hopes of reaching the knockouts hanging by a thread, under-pressure boss Ten Hag and his team return to Premier League action against Luton this afternoon.

However, they will be without the experienced star after they confirmed the severity of his issue.

A statement from the club read: “Jonny Evans will be out of action for the next few weeks with injury.

“The Northern Ireland defender suffered a thigh strain in the first half of our Champions League game with FC Copenhagen in Denmark on Wednesday.”

SunSport understands that United hope to have Evans back available within three-to-four weeks - but that could still see him miss some huge games.

They face the Hatters, Everton, then top four hopefuls Newcastle and Chelsea over the next month in the top-flight, while they also have a trip to Galatasaray in the Champions League coming up.

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Academy graduate Evans made a shock return to United on a free transfer at the start of the season after leaving Leicester following their relegation.

He initially broke into the Red Devils first-team under Sir Alex Ferguson, winning the Champions League and three Prem titles, but left Old Trafford for West Brom in 2015 before joining the Foxes three years later.

Evans has played six games this season and proved to be an impressive deputy as Ten Hag’s plans were hit by a number of defensive problems amid injuries to Varane, Lisandro Martínez and Victor Lindelof.

Full-back Luke Shaw is another absentee, having not played since August, although Varane looks certain to start against Luton in Evans’ place after coming on for him in midweek.

Varane has started only seven matches all season and Ten Hag was asked if there was any reason behind his fall from grace.

He said: "Absolutely not. As I said, it is about tactical reasons why I chose these partnerships.

"Harry Maguire is doing very well at the moment and I am very happy with that.

"I've always said, Harry can do the job and now he is showing he can do the job.

";Rapha Varane always played the games he was available because he was doing that well.

"What I said last year, Harry didn't play a lot, so I was very happy with Rapha's performances. I have always been happy with his performance.

"But in this moment, Harry is playing very well and there is internal competition."

Meanwhile, midfielder Casemiro pulled his hamstring against Newcastle and was initially only expected to be out for a few weeks but now looks set to be sidelined until Christmas.

Ten Hag is also currently missing Tyrell Malacia and Amad Diallo through injury.

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