Manchester United suffer double injury blow with Bruno Fernandes set to return

Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes could return for Manchester United against Arsenal but Lisandro Martinez will miss out – despite begging manager Erik ten Hag to make his comeback.

Mason Mount has been added to United’s injury list, though Ten Hag hopes the England international will be fit for the FA Cup final, while the Dutchman will still be very short of defenders for the visit of the title contenders.

Ten Hag believes that Victor Lindelof and Raphael Varane could be fit for the Manchester derby at Wembley in the FA Cup but said Luke Shaw, who has been out since February, has suffered another injury setback.

Fernandes missed Monday’s 4-0 defeat to Crystal Palace while Rashford has sat out United’s last three matches but Ten Hag could welcome back three players.

He said: “There are players training. Bruno was on the pitch this morning. Scott McTominay was back on the pitch so there are some players returning. Rashy trained this morning as well and we have to see how he recovered but it looks quite good.”

Mount made his first start since November on Monday but now the £55m signing will be sidelined again and Ten Hag said: “It is very unfortunate, very unlucky. It is very bad luck what happened and we really missed him, he could have had a very good contribution.”

Martinez has not started since February after suffering a calf strain following a comeback in February. The Argentinian is back in training and wanted to face Arsenal.

“Yesterday Licha came to me and he want to play on Sunday but he is not ready,” added Ten Hag. “He is desperate to play. He misses so much, the team missed him, he wants to play but he had three injuries across the season. He is almost there so injury free is at the end of the healing process and he has to get back into team training.

Ten Hag said plenty of his squad are trying to return before the end of the season, adding: “Some players really fighting to be available and that is really amazing, they all try.” He believes defenders Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof could be back for the FA Cup final.