Erik ten Hag believes English football has reached a tipping point in terms of the demands placed on Premier League stars by a punishing schedule of club and international football.

Manchester United have struggled with a crippling injury list throughout Ten Hag’s second season at Old Trafford with more than 50 separate cases recorded after Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof were sidelined again this week.

At least, Harry Maguire, Raphael Varane and Jonny Evans have returned to training to ease the defensive injury crisis before Thursday’s clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

But Ten Hag insists the problems are being felt by other Premier League clubs, and are a result of an overload stretching back to last season and the mid-winter World Cup.

‘Absolutely, anywhere the players get overloaded and can't bring the performances anymore,’ said the United boss. ‘We are already over the point where we demand what we want from our top players.

‘The huge amount of games we had in the last 18 months. That still has an impact on our squad, the accumulation on the players.

‘You see last weekend, City were playing without (Kyle) Walker and (John) Stones. The levels were dropping without them. There was a different team to what we faced.’

Ten Hag believes the problem is being exacerbated by too much international football and some countries not taking care of the players’ interests when they are away from their clubs.

He added: ‘The levels for teams will keep dropping if you keep going in this process we are in overloading the international competition.

‘You can't avoid this 100 per cent, it is impossible. You depend on certain facts. Also, we have national teams five times a year. You give the players away and you don’t have any impact.

‘Some national teams we have very good connections and we manage the programmes, but there are also others that do what they want. You don’t have anything in hand on what they are doing there.’

Ten Hag dismissed suggestions that his training methods are too tough and contributing to United’s injury problems this season.

‘No, we don't train too hard,’ he insisted. ‘With the standards in this league, you need to be fit. Otherwise, you can't match the standards you are required in a game.

‘You need very robust players, that is the requirement. When you go into Christmas with many injuries and then you have to bring them back, they are free from injury but they are not match fit.

‘They are not straight back into the form. That also needs a couple of games before you get back into the rhythm. It still has an impact.’