Jim Goodwin says striker Louis Moult’s latest setback is a “bitter blow” that sums up Dundee United’s injury misfortune this season.
The 32-year-old recently returned to the team after being sidelined for a couple of months with a knee problem.
Moult now faces another spell out after he injured shoulder ligaments during last weekend’s defeat by Motherwell.
“We will be having to go without him for a few weeks unfortunately and it is a major disappointment for him and for us as a team because we have not long got him back after his previous injury,” manager Goodwin said.
“It is a bitter blow. It is an area of the pitch we are light in anyway, just having the three strikers, so on Sunday we go into the game with two senior strikers available.”
United are fifth in the table before Sunday’s visit of leaders Celtic. Goodwin’s side have enjoyed an impressive campaign so far, despite having to deal with injuries to several players.
“I know every team goes through little spells throughout the course of a season missing key players, but I do feel we have had a really unfortunate time right from the beginning with the amount of key players we have had to go without,” the Irishman added.
“Obviously (Craig) Sibbald has been out for a long stretch, (Kristijan) Trapanovski, Ross Graham, Ross Docherty, Moult – we have never had a fully-fit squad to choose from.
“And with us not being the biggest squad anyway it makes life very difficult when you want to try and rotate or try and freshen things up.”