Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag blamed an injury crisis at the Old Trafford club for a poor campaign after his side fell to a 1-0 loss to Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday – their ninth home defeat across all competitions this season.

United, who have now equalled their tally for most defeats at home in a season, had at least six defenders out through injury, as well as playmaker Bruno Fernandes and forward Marcus Rashford.

Ten Hag, who has been forced to play defensive midfielder Casemiro at centre-back in recent matches, has seen his side now concede 82 goals this season in all competitions – their most in a single campaign since 1970-71.

“I don’t know where we should be when we had all the players on board, but definitely it is if there are players all on board, then you will get more points,” Ten Hag told the club’s website. “Definitely, you will (have) more consistency, especially in the backline because yeah, now we concede a lot of chances, a lot of goals and last year we had the most clean sheets in the Premier League.

“You can’t progress a team when, in particular in certain key areas, it is like swimming with your hands behind your back, then you have to keep your head up and above the water level, this is what we are trying to do. “Still we are in a cup final, this is good but if you want to progress a team we need fit players. You have seen with our opponent today that only one player for (Arsenal) was not available. We had so many.”

United are eighth in the league standings with 54 points. Their remaining league fixtures include a home game against sixth-placed Newcastle United on Wednesday, followed by a trip to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday. They face Manchester City in the FA Cup final at Wembley on May 25.

The Dutchman, however, said his team produced a much improved performance against Arsenal – who went top of the table after the match – having suffered a 4-0 thumping at Crystal Palace last week.

“I can only be happy. And I think it’s a compliment for this team that the ones who played, they executed with all that they could and they were competitive and they were fighting. And then you see you can get a result,” he said.