Wayne Rooney is a serious doubt for Manchester United’s Champions League quarter final second leg against Bayern Munich on Wednesday due to a toe injury.
The striker was injured in Tuesday’s 1-1 drawn first leg and will definitely miss this afternoon’s Premier League game at Newcastle.
United manager David Moyes said: "It will be touch and go for Wayne for Wednesday. With a lot of toe injuries you have to make sure there isn't a hairline fracture or crack in your toe. We will have all that checked.
"It is a toe injury and they are never easy when you get one. You could see him limping in the game towards the end quite badly. There is not an awful lot you can do with a toe injury – sometimes you can feel better quite quickly with them and sometimes you need an injection possibly to play with it if it is bruising."
Moyes did not attempt to use Rooney’s injury as an example of a his poor fortune this season in relation to injuries, with many of his players spending long spells on the sidelines.
United will go to Munich with limited striking options if Rooney is unfit. Robin Van Persie will make his return before the end of the season, but not until the end of April.
Speaking about Van Persie’s injury, Moyes said: "Robin is over in Holland having treatment.
"We get a daily update on how Robin is and he's getting better. Time is healing it as well and he's doing a lot of rehabilitation work and recovery back there.
"He's coming on, as far as we know. I still see it as four to six weeks from when he got the injury. That was what we were told from the doctors and there's not been any reason why it would be any more time or less time. But we'll monitor that.
"My hope was we'd get him back before the end of the season for sure. I think the big thing is we will be medically led. If he's not right, we certainly wouldn't bring him back too soon.
"We'll be totally led by the medical team and Robin. He's a good judge of how his body feels and how we've tried to deal with Robin all through the season is we have given him the understanding that he tells us how he feels. He'll be the first one to tell us how he is."
With his two most potent scoring threats likely to be watching from the sidelines Moyes will likely turn to Danny Wellbeck for a game where his side need a goal to have any chance of progress. Wellbeck missed perhaps the most clear-cut chance United had on Tuesday, a one on one against Bayern keeper Manuel Neur but Moyes talked of the England striker’s ability to cause the German defence problems.
"Danny has come in and done really well.
"He played well and we want to give some minutes to Chicharito as well because his opportunities have been limited due to Rooney and van Persie at times. We'll have to look at that as well.
"I think Danny has the fear factor. He has the ability to run away from people and has really strong upper-body strength, sometimes people don't give him the credit for that.
"His finishing has always been questioned but I think, this year, he's looked more likely. The year before, he only got two goals. This year, he's had a contribution and his goals have been important for us at different times.
"I'd like to think he has got better this year. Maybe people who have seen him more than me would have a better idea but I think he's got better and he has improved.
"He's one of these boys who can play as a wide striker. Football is becoming a little more flexible with how people play and not as rigid so you can't always title people and position them but Danny could be classed as a centre-forward or a wide striker as well."
