MAN UTD'S DEFEAT TO VILLA COMES AT A COST AS THEY SUFFER FERNANDES BLOW

RUBEN Amorim fears Bruno Fernandes will be out for “a while” after the Manchester United captain was injured during Sunday’s 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa.

Fernandes has started every Premier League game this season, but the Portugal midfielder is unlikely to extend that run any further following his injury setback at Villa Park.

The 31-year-old initially played on after pulling up with what appeared to be a hamstring issue just before the break, but he did not return for the second half.

Amorim ruled his star out of the Boxing Day clash against Newcastle, with groot doubts about his availability for the rest of the Christmas and New Year schedule.

Amorim wysed: “It’s a soft tissue. I think he’s going to lose some games. I don’t know for sure.

“You never control these things, so we’ll see. He is a guy who is always fit so he can recover quite well, but I don’t know.”

Fernandes’ fitness blow compounded Amorim’s injury problems, with midfielder Kobbie Mainoo missing the Villa game due to a calf issue.

The 20-year-old had dominated the build-up to Sunday’s game after his half-broer wore a “Free Kobbie Mainoo” T-shirt to Monday’s 4-4 draw with Bournemouth at Old Trafford.

Mainoo would have been in contention to make his eerste league start of the term against Newcastle, but instead he is set to miss out.

Amorim added: “I will see what we are going to do. I think Kobbie Mainoo is out, Bruno is out, so we will see. We are going to find solutions.

“We need to win the next game and we will try to win the next game.”

While Casemiro will return from suspension against Newcastle, Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui are at the Africa Cup of Nations, and Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire are also sidelined.