Erik ten Hag explains shock reason Jadon Sancho missed Man Utd loss to Arsenal

Erik ten Hag revealed Jadon Sancho missed Sunday’s defeat to Arsenal as he was left out of the squad due to his performances in training during the week.

The winger was a notable omission when the Manchester United side was announced at the Emirates, with it presumed the ex-Borussia Dortmund man wasn't picked due to injury. However, asked after the match about Sancho’s absence, Ten Hag said: “Jadon, on his performance in training, we didn't select him.

"You have to reach a level every day at Manchester United and you have to make choices in the frontline. For this game he wasn't selected."

Scott McTominay was also missing from the matchday squad and Ten Hag revealed he wasn’t picked due to illness.

Meanwhile, United were forced into two changes at centre-back as they lost 3-1 to Arsenal, with Victor Lindelof and Lisandro Martinez both replaced by Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans. “Victor was ill and he had to come off,” Ten Hag explained. “Licha said he has a problem on his foot but I’m not sure if it’s an injury and we have to see, we have to make the diagnosis.”

United had looked set to come away from North London with a point, but injury-time goals from Declan Rice and Gabriel Jesus meant the Red Devils left with nothing. Marcus Rashford netted United’s only goal of the match after 27 minutes, but that lead lasted for just 109 seconds, with Martin Odegaard scoring an almost immediate equaliser.

Despite that, Ten Hag said he was happy with the performance. "I’m here with a good feeling because our performance was very good, not perfect and there is definitely room for improvement, but if we see the pressing, moving with the ball, the counters on the ball, in possession was very calm," he said. "We never gave Arsenal the opportunity to press us. We played under their pressure.

"But there was room for improvement in the next stage, we could have done that better to get the next pass. That was to do with the movement and the right pass. There were a lot of positives, but as is logical in this stage of the season, there was room for improvement."