Erik ten Hag has confirmed that two of his Manchester United squad returned to the Carrington pitches on Friday, although another has been ruled out of Sunday’s Premier League clash with Arsenal at Old Trafford.
Bruno Fernandes and Scott McTominay were back in training after missing Monday’s 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace, but Mason Mount has picked up a fresh issue that will sideline him for our penultimate home outing of the 2023/24 season.
“I hope I have players [back and available], yeah. But there are players that did train this morning,” Ten Hag told reporters.
“Bruno was on the pitch and Scott McTominay was on the pitch, so there are some players returning. But also I have to report that unfortunately, yesterday, Mason Mount fell out [of contention]. So he will not be available for Sunday.”
There was good news earlier this week, as Lisandro Martinez and Marcus Rashford were spotted with the group by our photographers at Carrington.
Martinez has played just 11 times this season due to injury, last featuring in the 1-1 draw at Brentford in March, while Rashford has been absent for three games after picking up a problem in the Emirates FA Cup semi-final with Coventry City.
While the boss suggested that Sunday’s game may come too early for an eager-to-play Martinez to be involved, he hoped Rashford would be able to take part, assuming he comes through Saturday’s session unscathed.
“Yesterday Licha came to me and he wanted to play on Sunday against Arsenal, but he is not ready yet,” Erik added. “He needs a little bit more time to go through the process.
“Rashy, of course, he trained this morning as well, and we have to see how he recovered from this. But I think it looks quite good and I hope he can tomorrow make the next training and then see if he is available for Sunday.”
Luke Shaw’s return has been delayed, but Ten Hag is still hoping the England left-back can feature again this campaign.
“Luke Shaw had a setback in his process as well but there is still a hope and he will fight to be available for the final.”
There was no update on the likes of Willy Kambwala, Victor Lindelof and Raphael Varane, whose absences have meant Casemiro has had to feature at centre-back in the last four games.
Harry Maguire is hoping to be fit for the FA Cup final after suffering a muscle injury last week.
ARSENAL TEAM NEWS
Mikel Arteta held his press conference on Friday afternoon and admitted that the Gunners have several ‘doubts’, in the shape of Bukayo Saka and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
Tomiyasu was not spotted in training earlier this week, while Saka took a couple of rough tackles in last Saturday’s 3-0 win over Bournemouth.
Otherwise, the Gunners squad looks to be largely healthy ahead of the trip to Manchester, although Jurrien Timber is still working his way back from a cruciate ligament injury that has restricted him to 50 minutes in his debut season. The Netherlands international has been stepping up his recovery with the club’s Under-21s.
Reiss Nelson has been missing from Arsenal’s last two matchday squads.
