As Manchester United head over to the KC Stadium to play Hull City in the eagerly EFL Cup semi-final kicking off at 19.45pm they have a 2-0 lead to hopefully allow them to play confidently. United know they cannot afford to sit back as that would be a massive mistake as under Marco Silva Hull City has posed a goal threat and United will be needing to attack as their best form of attack and getting an early goal will be key to taking a racous crowd out of the game. This is not a time to be parking the bus – quite the opposite.

When it comes to the injury situation things could not be more different at the time of writing as Hull City are really banged up while Man Utd are looking relatively unscathed for the minute.

Starting with United:

• the latest addition to the United infirmary is Marcus Rojo who has an illness but may recover in time to play a part in the match
• the serious injury to young forward James Wilson who was recalled from his loan with Derby County after sustaining a most troublesome ACL knee injury will have a prognosis that will not change for some time sadly which means he will not be back this season and his return depends entirely on how well his rehab goes. We can only wish the youngster the very best of luck and that he suffers no set-backs as he works to get back to fitness. Our injury information is courtesy of the very fine site The Physio Room and was accurate at the time of writing.

On the Hull City side of things the situation is dire to say the least:

• Ryan Mason has a fractured skull and has no return date
• Curtis Davies has a hamstring injury and while he has not scheduled a return date he is only listed as a slight doubt so if things go well he could return sooner than expected possibly
• Robert Snodgrass has a muscle injury and he too while he has not scheduled a return date he is only listed as a slight doubt so if things go well he could return sooner than expected possibly but there are serious transfer rumours swirling around him so he might well not play anyway with that in mind
• Markus Henriksen has a shoulder separation and is a major doubt
• Will Keane has an ACL knee injury and has no return date
• Moses Odubajo has a patella fracture and likely won’t be back until May 1st
• Greg Luer las a knee injury which is on the mend but he won’t be back until just after the United game
• Defender Alex Bruce will also be back after the United game as he is due to return to training after recovering from an achilles tendon problem
• Brian Lenihan is getting over knee surgery and while he has no specific return date he is stated as a major doubt

So it has to be said that you really do have to feel for new boss Marco Silva who has been doing incredibly well considering the Hull City infirmary which is bulging with 9 players at the moment while there is some hope 2-3 of them may be able to play vs United. Hull City did complete a signing this week when they added Liverpool midfielder Lazar Markovic on loan until the end of the season. Brendan Rodgers signed Markovic as one of the players to replace Luis Suarez and he simply did not work out at Anfield and was one of the nails in the former Liverpool bosses coffin as the player just could not get to grips with the Premier League or find a role with Liverpool. Markovic had been loan at Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon until now but was recalled due to inactivity as he was not catching the eye of the coaching staff at the Portuguese club so Hull will be hoping he can come in and do a job for them as they stare down the distinct possibility that they may lose Robert Snodgrass who many teams seem to have an interest in.

Either way it will be interesting to see which way Jose goes with his selection when he has an embarassment of riches but he seems to be using a core of players like De Gea, Jones, Herrera, Pogba, Mkhitaryan, Valencia and Ibrahimovic and rotating the others around that core but with such a variety of choices and with players seemingly slotting in and out relatively easily there are a number of possible line-ups Jose could go with. It will be interesting to see whether Martial and Rashford start again but all will be revealed at 7.45pm BST. in what should be a formality for United but as we all know the Cup can always deliver a surprise or 2 so don’t be surprised if you are surprised!!