The news that defender Lisandro Martinez will miss at least eight weeks due to knee ligament damage dealt a blow to Manchester United's hopes of making it into the Champions League for the following season.
The World Cup winner of Argentina had not played for most of the season due to a foot injury, from which he only recently recovered.
Nevertheless, Martinez's influence was noticeable given United's recent improvement in performance.
The 26-year-old was substituted out of Sunday's 3-0 victory over West Ham due to a buckling right knee sustained during a collision with Vladimir Coufal during a possession play.
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"Lisandro Martinez has sustained an injury to the medial collateral ligament in his knee and is expected to be out of action for at least eight weeks," United said in a statement.
"We all wish Licha a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back on the pitch later in the season."
Martinez will likely miss most of the remaining games in the season, though he might be available for the final seven Premier League games and the FA Cup finals.
"He is very sad, very disappointed," said United boss Erik Ten Hag after the West Ham game.
"We feel really with him. First of all, it's a personal disaster when it's really bad, but let's wait for what it is. But also for the team it's really bad because he definitely brings us a lot."
United is currently six points behind Tottenham in the Premier League and eight behind Aston Villa, who they will play on Sunday, in fourth place.
Depending on how English teams perform in European competitions this season, finishing in the top four will guarantee them a spot in the Champions League the following season. However, finishing fifth may be sufficient.
