Erik ten Hag opens up on injury concerns after Lisandro Martinez, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui all go off in Man Utd win at Southampton

United were forced into three second half substitutions due to injury, with Lisandro Martinez and Noussair Mazraoui both limping off in the final 20 minutes of the game. Matthijs de Ligt also needed to be substituted in the 87th minute but the United goalscorer insisted it was just precautionary after he suffered cramp.

The result eased some of the pressure on ten Hag following back-to-back defeats in the Premier League, with United keeping an away clean sheet for just the second time in 2024. Despite the injury blows, United will be encouraged by Marcus Rashford scoring his first goal since March, while summer signing Manuel Ugarte came on for his debut in the second half.

“It looks like [cramp] yes,” Ten Hag said, during his post-match press conference.

“We had internationals, short in the season, some are short in the pre-season, some come from intercontinental flights so then you know you have a 12.30 game and you can struggle,” he continued, in a separate interview, with BeIN Sports.

“Hopefully it’s nothing serious, we have to assess it today, or tomorrow and then we can see.”

United only have a few days rest before their next game, with Barnsley set to visit Old Trafford on Tuesday for the third round of the Carabao Cup. Ten Hag suggested that his new injured trio may not feature in the game, however the Dutchman was hopeful that United would have more players return towards the end of the month, with the Red Devils set to play seven times in 21 days.