Manchester United have lost two of their opening four matches (Picture: Getty)
Manchester United legend Gary Neville has revealed the ‘big worry’ that Erik ten Hag has after the club’s defeat to Arsenal.
Two goals in injury time gave Arsenal a controversial win against the Red Devils at the Emirates.
United thought they had snatched all three points when Alejandro Garnacho steamed through and slotted past Aaron Ramsdale.
However, the goal was ruled out by offside and Declan Rice scored in the 97th minute amid complaints from United that Jonny Evans was fouled by Gabriel in the build-up.
Despite losing, it was arguably United’s best performance of the season and Neville saw reason to be encouraged.
However, the injury-depleted United lost Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof during the game as the pair made way for Jonny Evans and Harry Maguire.
United are already without Raphael Varane, Tyrell Malacia and Luke Shaw, and Neville says the defensive absences are a ‘big worry’ now for Ten Hag.
Lisandro Martinez came off with a foot complaint (Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images)
Lindelof was ill and limped through the mixed zone after the match(Photo by Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)
‘There will be massive disappointment, but if I’m thinking about it logically, there were elements of that performance that were a lot better than what I saw at Tottenham and certainly than what I saw against Nottingham Forest and Wolves where I thought at times, they got cut apart,’ Neville told Sky Sports.
‘Today, I saw something that resembles a team in defence. Goals change matches and it changes our thinking, but Arsenal were quite passive at times.
‘The big worry now is over the defence because they’ve lost Raphael Varane and then today they lost Victor Lindelof and Lisandro Martinez at centre-back. That’s a problem. The midfield was better today but Sofyan Amrabat will add something to their game. United have been below par to what you’d expect them to be so far.’
MORE : Police investigating alleged headbutt on Roy Keane during Arsenal vs Manchester United clash
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.