Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has to deal with all types of problems at the moment, including a lack of available players.

There has been a lot of criticism of Manchester United’s form early this season, and there have also been off-field issues serving as a big distraction too.

This weekend United get an opportunity to return to winning ways, and it is far from simply against a talented Brighton side.

The scale of the challenge is laid bare by a full XI of players, who 48 hours before the game, are either unavailable, injured, or have major question marks.

Photo by Visionhaus/Getty ImagesManchester United unavailable or injury doubt XI

It is a worrying state of affairs that just one month into the 2023/24 season, Manchester United have a full XI of players who could be unavailable for selection heading into gameweek five.

These include Jadon Sancho and Antony, who are both out of action until further notice. Sancho’s absence is related to club discipline issue and Antony’s relating to a legal matter.

The rest of the unavailable players are due to injury – although there is a small chance one or two knocks could clear up shortly, hence the caveat of ‘injury doubt’ rather than saying all of these players are definitively unavailable this weekend.

Who has a chance to return for Manchester United next

From this group of players, Mason Mount, Sofyan Amrabat, Lisandro Martinez and Kobbie Mainoo are closest to returns, followed by Tom Heaton.

Amrabat had a knock which forced him to pull out of international duty – but The Telegraph report there is some optimism he could yet be fit for this weekend. All will soon become clear.

The Athletic report Mason Mount is targeting a return against Bayern Munich next week.

Martinez could be fit this weekend, however, he did not make the matchday squads for either of Argentina’s matches over the break.

There is a best case scenario where all of these issues clear up and the players are available to face Brighton.

But in 2023/24, Manchester United fans have already learned to expect the worst.

Maybe a trip to Old Trafford will become a regular thing soon for Evan?

Manchester United face Brighton at Old Trafford this weekend and one player we will all be keeping an eye on is Evan Ferguson… The 18 year old striker bagged a hat-trick in Brighton’s last PL game and has said before in an interview that he’s ‘a boyhood United fan and idolised Wayne Rooney’.