Manchester United manager Michael Carrick said Bruno Fernandes will keep the team's captaincy, despite his decision to drop the Portugal midfielder for their 3-0 defeat against Bournemouth on Sunday for outspoken comments about the team's tactics.

Carrick has held on to his job following discussions involving the club hierarchy this week, despite an eight-game winless run and the team's worst start to a league season since 1986.

And the former Middlesbrough manager confirmed Fernandes will return to the starting lineup and retain the captaincy against Chelsea on Saturday after remaining on the bench against Bournemouth.

Carrick handed Harry Maguire the captain's armband in Sunday's loss.

"There is no decision to be made on [the captaincy]," Carrick said. "It will be Bruno. Listen, we're clear with the situation of the team and as a football club at the moment. He's an important player for this group. He has been and he will be.

"Between us, we've got to make a difference and we've got to push things in a good direction. He's fully committed to this football club, he's fully committed to making things better. It doesn't change for me. He's the one that's kind of led the team so well for many a game and many a year, and he'll continue to do that."

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Kobbie Mainoo could return to the squad for the trip to Chelsea after training this week following a recent layoff, but Carrick said that striker Benjamin Sesko faces an extended layoff with a shin injury. Sesko has not played since the Carabao Cup defeat against Brighton on Sept. 16 and is now expected to be out until the New Year.

"Ben looks like he's going to be out for a period of time," Carrick said. "We're still not clear of exactly how long, but it's going to be for a longer period of time. It was the process and we had to go through the process. There's a bit of a healing process for the injury to see how it would react and what direction to go with that.

"So even now we're still working through it. But yeah, it's unfortunate, obviously first and foremost for Ben, for the kind of period that he's had and tried to get through it."