MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Michael Carrick has joined Calgary-born Owen Heargeaves on the sidelines, meaning Manchester United’s central midfield will be thin for at least a month.
Carrick played the full 90 minutes of Tuesday’s 1-0 Champions League win over AS Roma but an X-ray later showed a fractured elbow.
With Hargreaves already out for a month with a knee injury, Carrick’s absence — which could be as long as six weeks — means United is unlikely to field the pair together again until mid-November.
That would leave United without its central partnership for Premier League games against Wigan, Aston Villa, Middlesbrough, Arsenal and Blackburn, as well as a pair of Champions League games against Dynamo Kyiv.
Darren Fletcher was already ruled out until the end of October with a leg injury, so manager Sir Alex Ferguson may need to call on defender John O’Shea or the recently acquired Anderson to play alongside the attacking Paul Scholes.
United, second in the Premier League, is already missing goalkeepers Edwin van der Sar and Ben Foster, defender Mikael Silvestre, and midfielder Park Ji-sung.