Man United dealt fresh injury blows as Mason Mount misses Arsenal clash, while Luke Shaw suffers new setback in recovery... but Erik ten Hag confirms Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay have all returned to training

Manchester United have been dealt a fresh injury blow after Mason Mount pulled out of Sunday’s clash with Arsenal and Luke Shaw suffered a setback in his recovery.

Mount has only made seven appearances after four months out with a calf injury, but he was hurt in training on Thursday. Shaw hasn’t played since February, although Ten Hag is still confident the England defender will play again over the remaining four games of the season.

‘Luke had a setback in his process but there is still hope,’ said the United boss. ‘Yesterday Mason Mount fell out of training, so he will not be available for Sunday. It's very unfortunate, very unlucky. It is a symbol (of the season).’

Asked if he regrets not trying to sign Declan Rice rather than Mount, who has had an injury-hit season since signing from Chelsea for £60million in the summer, Ten Hag said: ‘He (Rice) is a very good player and would have fitted here. But I’m not unhappy with Mason. I am very happy with him, he is a very robust player. In the last four seasons he only had a small issue at the end of his Chelsea career. He always played. It’s really bad luck and we have really missed him across the season.’

There was some better news for Ten Hag after Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay returned to training ahead of the Arsenal game. The United boss confirmed that Lisandro Martinez also wants to play after recovering from a calf injury but is being held back.

‘Yesterday Licha came to me and wants to play on Sunday against Arsenal but he's not ready,’ added Ten Hag. ‘He is desperate to play, he misses it so much and the team misses him. He wants to play but he had three injuries across the season. Now he is almost there, injury free, but now he has to get back into team training.

‘I will never gamble with a player, never. It's about them, their futures, it's most important about their careers. The club is the most important but the safety, health of the player is a high level.

‘Players are fighting to be available, they all try. This morning, Bruno was on the pitch and Scott McTominay was back on the pitch. Rashford trained this morning as well. We have to see how he has recovered from this. Hopefully he makes the training tomorrow and then he's ready for Sunday.’

Ten Hag insisted that he will set out a team to beat Arsenal and won’t be influenced by the FA Cup final against Manchester City on May 25.

‘We go in every game to win, not prepare for the next game,’ he added. ‘Of course it's in the back of my mind, but the team is eager to win and we choose the best team for Sunday to win that game. I don’t take big risks with players now to win on Sunday with the risk they drop out again, but it’s not so different than a normal situation if you didn’t have the Cup Final.’