Ruben Amorim has confirmed Matheus Cunha’s injury is “nothing serious” after the striker was omitted from the Premier League clash against Everton. Cunha had been tipped to spearhead the Manchester United attack in the false nine role following Benjamin Sesko’s knock which the Slovenian sustained against Tottenham prior to the international break.

Nevertheless, Cunha has also sustained an injury and failed to make the matchday squad. Amorim was pressed to explain the circumstances ahead of the encounter with the Toffees, informing MUTV: “It was a knock in training so I don’t know how long he’s going to stay out, I think it’s nothing serious, but we cannot risk players. We have to show everybody, when you are not 100 per cent, we have a different player to cope with the demands of the game.”

Joshua Zirkzee stepped into the starting XI to replace Cunha. Zirkzee hadn’t featured from the start in a league fixture since April and last found the net in the league against Everton back in December.

Amorim elaborated on the choice to start Zirkzee: “I just want to see Josh playing well, with the quality he has. We have a problem with Ben [Sesko] and we have a problem with Cunha.

“He’s working in that position. If you look at our team, I think Josh has, more or less, the same characteristics as Cunha in that position. We want to maintain what we worked with during the week and he is ready.”

Manchester United went into the match knowing they could jump into fourth place, just a point and a position behind Manchester City, with a victory over Everton.