Manchester United substitutes reveal two players causing pre-season problems for Erik ten Hag

If American club owners and political figures have their way, at some point Premier League teams across the Atlantic will stop being mere pre-season preparations and start focusing solely on points.

Competitive games are the ultimate goal for the promoters who organise them and for the US businessmen who have a huge influence over Premier League clubs. As unpleasant as this may be for the English public, the momentum for this only seems to be growing.

For now, American audiences will have to make do with summer tours, although judging by the crowd at SoFi Stadium, the appetite for meaningless games is waning. Perhaps that’s why Manchester United and Arsenal have added a little spice to their soccer game in Los Angeles. If this had been a competitive game, the referee would have been brandishing more cards than the officials in bold suits making these games happen.

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On a slow pitch, there were more fouls than anyone expected from a friendly between two teams who played the same match in New Jersey a year ago. This time, the stakes seemed to have been raised and Mikel Arteta was furious with some of the challenges thrown at his players in the first half.

Arteta’s team are hardly cowards and they got their revenge. Casemiro and Mason Mount found themselves face down after being slaughtered.

The identity of United’s most fouled player and the youngster who has doled out some of the treatment appeared telling. Mount and Toby Collyer have been two of the bright lights of pre-season so far.

Mount was arguably United’s best player of the summer and the £55million midfielder is starting to gain momentum heading into his second season at the club. He was brilliant again against the Gunners, this time operating in a more advanced role.

The former Chelsea midfielder pressed intelligently and used the ball well. He had one chance, forcing Karl Hein into a save, and showed some quick feet in midfield to find space. United’s quality on the ball dropped noticeably when he came off at half-time and it was a surprise that he is not yet at a point where he is getting more time on the pitch, having played against Rosenborg and Rangers and returned to training for three weeks.

Ten Hag would not have picked Mount for the start of the Premier League season, but he is giving his manager a headache. The same goes for Collyer.

The decision to start him against Arsenal in a more experienced first-half team, ahead of Scott McTominay and Christian Eriksen, bore the hallmarks of the decision to start Kobbie Mainoo against Real Madrid in Houston a year ago.

Collyer has caught the eye this summer and is growing in confidence on the pitch. The 20-year-old is yet to make his senior debut, but it looks like it is coming for United.

He was aggressive in his attempts to win the ball in the first half. He stole possession to engineer a move that ended with Amad testing Hein and then drew Arteta’s ire when he stuck a foot between Martin Odegaard’s legs, stealing the ball but catching the Norwegian with his follow-up. No foul was called.

Both players were again substituted in big changes at half-time, but did enough to give Ten Hag a midfield headache or two this summer.