Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has acknowledged that ongoing injuries are “holding back” his team and impacting their performance.
Before their improved display against Brentford last weekend, United managed only eight points from 21 in their first seven Premier League matches, marking the club’s worst start to a league season since 1989/90. After drawing their third consecutive Europa League match on Thursday night, Ten Hag will welcome back Bruno Fernandes, who returns from suspension, for the upcoming trip to West Ham United. Rasmus Hojlund, who has had his playing time carefully managed, is also expected to rejoin the lineup.
Hojlund and Fernandes had a strong connection with Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford in the Brentford game, helping United score in a Premier League match for the first time in over a month. However, the squad is still dealing with injury issues, as seven players will be unavailable against the Hammers.
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“That holds us back in our levels and also in our position in the league, because when you don’t have the players available, you can’t field the best team, and that is what’s hindering us right now,” Ten Hag lamented to reporters.
“We need more players available consistently, and we must all work together on this issue—the players, coaching staff, and all other staff. We have to improve and increase our available options because we know that when we have them, we are a really tough team to play against, and we can be very successful, as we’ve shown over the past few months.”
Due to the travel demands of their current fixture schedule, United remained in Turkey on Thursday night and trained locally on Friday morning, instead of returning to Manchester. They planned to head straight to London ahead of Sunday’s game at the London Stadium.
Jonny Evans, who missed the trip to Istanbul due to a knock sustained against Brentford, may be ready to rejoin the squad in the capital. Leny Yoro and Luke Shaw have been training individually, while Tyrell Malacia has returned to group training but is not yet match-ready after over a year out. Mason Mount has not played since suffering a head injury against Tottenham last month, and Kobbie Mainoo and Harry Maguire could be sidelined until November. Additionally, Antony is the latest player to be injured, having been stretchered off this week.