Why Benjamin Sesko and Casemiro are out of Man Utd trip to face Sunderland

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Casemiro is not in Manchester United's squad for the match against Sunderland after sustaining a minor injury. The Brazil international is, however, expected to be fit in time to say goodbye to Old Trafford in the coming weeks.

The 34-year-old is in the closing stages of his United career, and his absence from the matchday squad sparked concern among fans. Nevertheless, he has not yet played his final game for the club.

United are confident Casemiro will be available to feature at Old Trafford against Nottingham Forest next Sunday. They then go to Brighton & Hove Albion a week later.

They will be the final two fixtures of his spell at the club before he leaves on a free transfer. His absence has left Michael Carrick's squad rather thin in the middle of the park.

Manuel Ugarte is also ruled out following a back problem in training. Mason Mount has been brought in for his first start under the club's current head coach.

Benjamin Sesko also misses out, having been unable to overcome a nagging shin injury in time to regain his place in the side. Joshua Zirkzee comes in to replace Sesko, also earning his first start under Carrick.

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United's manager acknowledged that the striker was a doubt after being withdrawn at half-time during their 3-2 victory over Liverpool . Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Carrick said: "We'll have to see.

"He's obviously come off with a shin issue, so we'll see. At the moment, he hasn't been fully back with the group, but we'll have to see."

He then told MUTV in the build-up to kick-off: "Ben's been carrying a shin problem for some time and he took another quite a big bang on it. Obviously, he had to come off last week, so he wasn't ready today.

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"Case - he'll be fine for next week, it's nothing major. Manu had a problem with his back in training, so that's the issues kind of ironed out.

"We've got a really strong team today. I'm looking forward to seeing the boys play and perform, and finish the season strong."

Casemiro completed the entire 90 minutes at Old Trafford against Liverpool, as he has in each of their four fixtures. The midfielder has not missed a match since serving a suspension for yellow card accumulation in the final game before Christmas Day, which United lost 2-1 away to Aston Villa .