Explaining Scott McTominay and Jadon Sancho’s absence vs Arsenal

Manchester United will be without Scott McTominay and Jadon Sancho as they face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League.

It was revealed yesterday that neither Jadon Sancho nor Scott McTominay were in the travelling Manchester United squad to face Arsenal, but the club refused to clarify if they would still travel on their own or not.

With neither team in the 20-man squad to face Arsenal, they were not involved in the fixture that ended in a 3-1 defeat for the Red Devils.

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New signing Rasmus Højlund was on the bench for Erik ten Hag‘s reds, while Marcus Rashford started up front and Antony starts in Sancho’s right-wing position.

The midfield three, where McTominay would usually play if he starts, consisted of Bruno Fernandes, Christian Eriksen, and Casemiro – which is expected.

Speaking after the game about their absence on Sunday afternoon, Ten Hag revealed that Scott McTominay was ill.

In the case of Jadon Sancho, however, Ten Hag said that he was simply not selected for the game.

“On his performance in training we didn’t select him,” he said. “You have to reach the level every day at Manchester United. You can make choices in the front line, so in this game he wasn’t selected.”

Manchester United are already suffering an injury crisis within their squad, with several players out for multiple months, and the closest back set to be Mason Mount, who was not called up to the England squad due to injury.