Manchester United's record goalscorer Wayne Rooney has claimed that some of the club's players currently on the sidelines through injury would be able to take to the field.
Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford were again both absent for the Red Devils on Sunday afternoon, as title-challenging Arsenal made the trip to Old Trafford.
Tyrell Malacia, Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane, Anthony Martial, Victor Lindelof and Mason Mount were also sidelined for the 20-time English champions.
Man United suffered a 1-0 loss to Arsenal, with the defeat proving to be their 14th in the Premier League this season, and Rooney has accused some of the players of making the most of their injury situation in order to sit out matches in the latter stages of the campaign.
"There are some very good players in that squad and the performances are way below par. You look at the injuries and some of those players could play; 100%," Rooney told Sky Sports News.
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Fernandes, Rashford among Man United players currently out of action
"You have a European Championships coming up and an FA Cup final coming up. It is easy for players to stay out for a little bit and then come back towards the European Championships.
"I have seen it myself over the years. I just think the players who have been injured are not filling themselves with any credit at the minute."
Man United head coach Erik ten Hag said after the clash with Arsenal that he was pleased with his team's performance due to the amount of players currently unavailable for selection.
"Mostly this team has always the right spirit and they always execute the rules and the principles from the game, how we want them to play and even if they have to adapt to different positions, where we are now with all the injuries," he told reporters.
"And so yeah, I can only be happy. And I think it's a compliment for this team that the ones who played, they executed with all that they could and they were competitive and they were fighting. And then you see you can get a result."
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Ten Hag insists injuries are causing Man United's issues
"I don't know where we should be when we had all the players on board, but definitely it is if there are players all on board, then you will get more points.
"Definitely you will [have] more consistency, especially in the backline because yeah, now we concede a lot of chances, a lot of goals and last year we had the most clean sheets in the Premier League.
"Any manager can always do anything better, but now after two years here, I have only had one time where I have had a full group of players. You can't progress a team when in particular in certain key areas, it is like swimming with your hands behind your back, then you have to keep your head up and above the water level, this is what we are trying to do.
"Still we are in a cup final, this is good but if you want to progress a team we need fit players. You have seen with our opponent today that only one player for [Arsenal] was not available. We had so many."
Man United, who remain eighth in the Premier League table, will face Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion in their last two league games of the season before tackling Manchester City in the FA Cup final on May 25.
Matt Law
