Erik ten Hag issues double injury update as Manchester United manager honest on Brentford draw

Erik ten Hag said Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof’s potential injuries will both be assessed, with the Manchester United manager admitting his side deserved to lose their 1-1 draw.

Varane was replaced by Harry Maguire at the break after suffering pain when making a first-half block. Lindelof, meanwhile, went off in the second half — replaced by Lisandro Martinez as the Argentine made his long-awaited return from an injury of his own.

United scored what they thought was a 96th-minute winner as Mason Mount netted his first for the club, but Brentford equalised three minutes later through Kristoffer Ajer to earn a point that damaged United’s Champions League hopes.

Ten Hag said of his two centre-backs: “I can’t tell by now [whether they are injured]. Rapha we took off by precaution. Victor, we have to assess tomorrow.”

He added: “We didn’t deserve to win but if you are winning you take this. We showed resilience all through the game, but in points of aggressiveness Brentford was better. We should show more passion and desire in many points of the game.

“There are still many games to go. Of course, the points will be more expensive by the end. This should have been three. Now it’s only one. It can be a big point by the end.

“We have a great goalkeeper. He was brilliant tonight. We have to say that. Our results are quite consistent from January on.”

Speaking after the game, Mount was more concerned with where two dropped points leave the Red Devils than on finding the back of the net in United colours for the first time.

“When you go 1-0 up right at the end you want to try and hang onto that”, he said.

“If you look at the game overall, it wasn’t to our standard. We know that. When you score at the death you think you can maybe hang on. But maybe we didn’t deserve it.

“Brentford make it difficult. It is never easy coming here. We know we can improve and we need to because we need to win games. These are the games you want to win.”

He said of United’s chances of qualifying for the Champions League: “It is a tough one now but all we can do is focus on ourselves. We know what we need to do.”