Michael Carrick has a couple of injury issues to deal with following Manchester United’s win against Brentford, including Matheus Cunha after the forward suffered a hip problem

Manchester United all but secured their place in next season’s Champions League after recording a 2-1 win against Brentford on Monday.

Michael Carrick’s side stormed into a two-goal lead at Old Trafford as Casemiro and Benjamin Sesko struck in the first half, and although Mathias Jensen pulled one back late on for the Bees, it was too little too late, and the Reds held on for an important three points.

Indeed, it’s a win that has maintained United’s grip on third place and has extended the gap between them and Brighton in sixth to 11 points with four matches remaining. With the top five sealing automatic qualification for the Champions League, United require a win in their next match to guarantee a spot in Europe’s elite club competition.

But it wasn’t all positive for United. Matheus Cunha missed out on the matchday squad with a fresh issue, while Luke Shaw was forced off in the second half.

With this in mind, Manchester Evening News has all the latest injury news and potential return dates from United…

Matheus Cunha

Matheus Cunha was a shock omission from the United squad for the visit of Brentford, having been an almost ever-present in the XI during his time at the club. He played close to the full game in the win against Chelsea after scoring what proved to be the winner, but Carrick revealed pre-match that he picked up a minor hip flexor problem.

Carrick said: “(Cunha) just had a bit of a sore hip flexor after the Chelsea game the other day. He was looking promising during the week, so we thought he might have been OK, but he just didn’t quite recover quick enough. It is nothing too serious, but unfortunately, he doesn’t make it tonight.”

Potential return date: May 3 vs Liverpool (H)

Luke Shaw

Luke Shaw has enjoyed a consistent run of fitness this season, with the United left-back playing 34 matches so far, but he couldn’t finish Monday’s win against Brentford. He went down off the ball and hobbled off in the second half.

Carrick didn’t offer an update on Shaw’s condition post-match, but further clarity is expected later this week ahead of Sunday’s mouthwatering clash against Liverpool.

Potential return date: Unknown

Matthijs de Ligt

Matthijs de Ligt has endured a frustrating season, which has been plagued by a lower back injury he sustained back in November. The Dutchman hasn’t featured since, though he is closing in on a return to action.

He was pictured in training this week, sharing pictures on Instagram with the caption: “Working hard, getting closer”.

Speaking earlier this month, Carrick said of his rehabilitation: “It’s different treatment and different exercises. He’s in the gym and doing work but he’s not quite on the grass and he’s not ready for that yet.

“That’s the process that unfortunately when you’re injured you’ve to go through. Sometimes it happens quick quicker than others and sometimes there’s things that don’t quite go to plan and it’s a bit slower.

“He’s just at that stage where he’s working through that at the moment and we’re trying to get him back right.”

Potential return date: Before the end of the season

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This weekend, David Benavidez steps up to cruiserweight for a challenging fight with reigning and unified champion Gilberto Ramirez. Now, just days out from the fight, two-division world champion Tim Bradley has altered his prediction for how the fight may play out.

Benavidez has claimed world honours at both super-middleweight and light-heavyweight, but the 25lb gap between light-heavyweight and cruiserweight could mean that he is in for his toughest test to date.

Against Ramirez, ‘The Mexican Monster’ is tasked with a man who has also ruled at super-middleweight, but has proven himself as a cruiserweight – where he has won four consecutive unanimous decisions, picking up the WBA and WBO straps.

Last month, Bradley predicted that Benavidez will ‘whoop’ Ramirez, but he told Fight Hub TV that he is now anticipating a close and ‘great’ fight, with Benavidez still coming out on top.

“To be honest with you, it is a great fight. I think that Ramirez is kinda getting slept on. You gotta understand that he has been at this weight for some time now, he is acclimated, this is David’s first fight at cruiserweight, it is going to be different.

“I know that he has the right style to give Ramirez fits, if he can still have the punch volume that he punches with and the hand speed. I think that his mobility is going to be a little bit different too, [25lbs] that’s a lot of weight, man.

“Benavidez does have the style to give Ramirez some issues, but you have got to think about stamina, will his power translate at the heavier weight? There is a lot to think about in this fight, a lot of questions that need to be answered.

“I’m going to go with Benavidez, because I think that Benavidez is special. I think he has what is internal and needed, he can pull it off.”

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“He is going to bring it out, he has got that dog in him. I think that he is going to take Ramirez to that brink, I don’t think that he is going to stop him but I know that he is going to put some work in.”

Zurdo vs. Benavidez takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Star Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat has accused authorities of deliberately blocking her return to competitive wrestling as the deadlines for the Asian and World Championships trials near. Vinesh, who hung up her boots after the Paris Olympics heartbreak, took a U-turn on her retirement last December. Speaking to The Indian Express, Vinesh said that while she was preparing to enter next month’s National Open Ranking tournament, she was unable to register because the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) portal stated that registrations had already closed.

Vinesh also revealed that while she tried reaching out to the WFI regarding the issues, the governing body is yet to respond to her.

“I am hoping to make a comeback at the National Open Ranking Tournament. The registration for it was open until April 30. However, when I tried to register, the portal said it was now closed. I have been trying to contact the administrative staff of the federation, but they haven’t responded to my calls,” said Vinesh.

Vinesh said she also faced similar hurdles at the Federation Cup, alleging that the selection criteria were changed at the 11th hour.

“I intended to compete there, too, but the team selection criteria were changed at the last minute, so I couldn’t take part. It feels like this is a deliberate attempt to stop me from competing, especially since this is an important tournament to remain in contention for the Asian Games and World Championship selection trials,” she added.

However, WFI chief Sanjay Singh refuted all the allegations made by Vinesh, insisting that many wrestlers faced the registration issue.

As per WFI’s Asian Games selection policy, only medal winners from the 2025 National Championships and the 2026 Federation Cup are eligible to compete in the senior selection trials. However, those who can secure medals at the Open Ranking tournament will earn a place in the national camp, which could also boost their bid to qualify for the trials.

“We received similar complaints from other wrestlers, too. They got in touch with our staff, and their issues were resolved. We are not going to stop anybody from competing, and the tournament remains open for everyone,” said Singh.

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For the imported three-year-old Accidental Bid to run in the Group 1 South Australian Derby at Morphettville, a rival needs to scratch.

Now handled by Ciaron Maher having launched in Britain, Accidental Bid is next in line after Tuesday acceptances and barrier allocations for the South Australian Derby (2518m) this Saturday.

Drawing inside at barrier 2, Accidental Bid installed as $3 favourite upon field finalisation, John Allen retained to steer.

This imported youngster yields maturity to foes, though Russian Camelot, bred in the UK, triumphed in 2020 at COVID’s zenith, piloted by Allen.

Perfect record in Australia with two Pakenham wins since shipping over after initial UK pair.

National Assistant Trainer Jack Turnbull from the Ciaron Maher camp praised Accidental Bid’s staying aptitude.

“He literally turned three just three weeks ago,” Turnbull said.

“His run over the mile was very pleasing and then to back that up on a heavy track, he relished the ground.

I’m not sure what he beat, but he ran reasonable time and ran a good figure and given his profile and he should stay on.

We went to that race against older horses for the time between runs if we were to go to the Derby and thankfully it’s worked out.”

Turnbull revealed consideration for the Group 1 Queensland Derby (2400m) at Eagle Farm near month’s close, yet the colt’s form has them keen.

Maher’s secondary contender Amazake earned Turnbull’s nod as maybe the stable’s premier maiden.

Post-spring Victoria Derby bid, Amazake notched three reliable showings this time in, latest a third over 2400m at Caulfield.

“He was terribly unlucky last start,” Turnbull said.

“He ended up in an awkward position, and the race was off and gone before he made his run at them.

He’s one of the better maidens in our yard and if we can break that in the Derby, everything will be repaid.

He is a lot stronger, more furnished than he was last season when he ran in the Victoria Derby when he didn’t run out the trip and his last start says the trip will be OK this time.”

Amazake drew wide in 17 under Ben Melham.

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Jim Furyk is a curious choice, as a back-up choice and second-chance captain of next year’s U.S. Ryder Cup team. If the PGA of America, in consultation with its Ryder Cup committee, wanted to go down the been-there, done-that road, why not just bring back last year’s model, Keegan Bradley, fresh off his Lessons Learned Tour? Yes, Europe won that event, 15-13. But being a winner was not a prerequisite for the job, and Bradley’s 11 players had some rally-cap Sunday.

The team Furyk captained in 2018, in France, appeared to be sleep-walking through all three days of the event, losing 17.5 to 10.5. The American golfer Tiger Woods appeared to be sleep-sitting through Team USA’s au revoir press conference Sunday night. Woods hasn’t been in a Ryder Cup uniform since then, not in a playing role, not in a managing role, not in any role except sideline whisperer.

Woods was always a Furyk guy. He related to him, grinder to grinder. Bradley was a Phil Mickelson acolyte.

The elephant in the room here is the absence of Woods and Mickelson as Ryder Cup captains, at least for now and maybe forever. The two dominant figures of American golf over the past 30 years, with 127 PGA Tour wins between them, including six PGA Championships, nowhere to be seen. There is no faster summary of the costs of their off-course lives, than that, that neither of these titans of the game is in the Ryder Cup conversation.

Woods, without saying a word, has shown himself to be an irresponsible driver with deep levels of trauma in his life. Mickelson, using a torrent of words, turned his back on his home tour, costing it incalculable damage. Even in this age of metrics, there is no device that could measure the weirdness, or the void.

Once upon a time, it was easy to imagine Mickelson captaining the 2023 team in Italy and the 2025 team at Bethpage Black, and Woods managing the 2027 team in Ireland and the 2029 team at Hazeltine. Maybe it was all a pandemic fever dream. It seems, like the pandemic itself, forever ago.

So, just to put it in one place, here are your six recent-vintage U.S. Ryder Cup captains, plus the next one:

*2018, France, Jim Furyk;

*2021, Whistling Straits, Steve Stricker;

*2023, Italy, Zach Johnson;

*2025, Bethpage Black, Keegan Bradley;

*2027, Ireland, Jim Furyk.

Talk about tried-and-true. Four-for-five, right there. (No one saw Bradley coming, not at 39.) Once upon a time, Arnold Palmer, at age 34, was given the Ryder Cup reins, but that was then (1963). On this list, Steve Stricker is the outlier: He had never won a major! But he was a native son of Wisconsin. Stricker was too modest and too honest to claim any particular role in the U.S. victory in Kohler, Wisc. “Brooks and Bryson wanted to play together — that’s how much [this team] came together,” he said when it was all over. Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau. They may be frenemies now, but they weren’t then. Stricker did what any good manager, in any field, does: get his players in a place where they can do the thing they do, play golf at a high level. It’s not that complicated, despite the extreme efforts to make it seem so.

Broadly speaking, the PGA of America is in a tough spot. Waiting on Tiger, waiting and waiting for him to make a decision, didn’t help. The organization still must deal with the worst aspects of last year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black on Long Island, where the PGA of America failed in its ultimate responsibilities, to provide a safe and appropriate atmosphere for spectators and to be a welcoming and gracious host to our European visitors.

The PGA Championship at Aronimink next month, on the far outskirts of Philadelphia, will be a major test, but also an opportunity, for an organization in a state of tumult. Four CEOs in an eight-year period, for one thing. The audacious move from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., to Frisco, Texas, outside Dallas, for another. That has been a hard sell all the way around. Future PGA Championships are scheduled for the largely untested new course there, one owned and operated by the PGA of America. The unspoken goal is obvious: make more money. Never an inspiring comment for any true sports fan to hear. The greatness of the Ryder Cup is that it became a money-maker by accident. It became a phenomenon by way of Seve Ballesteros and Jose-Maria Olazabal, Paul Azinger and Payne Stewart, Paul McGinley and Ian Poulter, even Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau. It became the Ryder Cup by dint of personality and the quality of the play, coupled with some exquisite American stages. Here’s looking at you, Oak Hill in early fall, in Rochester, N.Y.

The captain’s job, when you really get it to its essence, is to fill out a lineup card, help set the mood, engage the public. With Jim Furyk, who turns 56 next month, we know what we’re getting. His whole golfing life is rooted in relentless consistency, and it has served him well. DeChambeau, who is 32, would have been a wildcard as a Ryder Cup captain, and a wild choice. But if recent history on this narrow subject has shown us anything, don’t postpone joy. Do not postpone joy when picking Ryder Cup captains. The committee waited too long on Tiger and Lefty. Elvis has left the building. Tiger has, too.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com