Marcus Rashford is expected to be fit for Manchester United’s clash with Arsenal on Wednesday, despite requesting his substitution against Southampton at the weekend.
Although the England international gave away the free-kick which lead to Southampton’s second goal on Saturday, Rashford showed great mental fortitude to provide assists for both United’s goals as they fought back to earn a 2-2 draw.
However, the 21-year-old was replaced by Anthony Martial in the 77th minute at his own request, although manager Jose Mourinho has clarified that Rashford was simply ‘fatigued’.
“Fatigue, he was injured, he was asking to come out,” Mourinho said, as reported by Manchester Evening News.
“It was not that kind of injury, some players with that kind of injury do not play for two weeks but Marcus, I am pretty sure will be fine for the next one.
“But it’s one kick here, one kick there, one fall here, one fall there. Fatigue, lots of running, lots of movement, 75 minutes and he was done and we tried then with Martial replacing him.”
During his post-match media duties, Mourinho also accused Manchester United of lacking ‘mad dogs’ in their side, but feels Rashford showed the kind of mentality to inspire their comeback from 2-0 down on Saturday.
“With all respect to the dogs – because I love them – they are better than many men, is also a football expression that is not mine,” Mourinho added. “Is from somebody much older than me. [It] means the people that are aggressive on the ball fights hard to recover the ball.
“I would say Marcus Rashford was a mad dog until he was very, very tired and with little problems. That appetite, that desire, that fire you have, you need that to recover the ball faster and to recover the ball higher on the pitch.”
Can Mourinho rediscover his old magic?
It is no secret Mourinho tends to struggle in his third season at a club, having only managed a team beyond that point once in his career to date – leaving Chelsea for the first time shortly into his fourth term.
And that trend seems to be continuing at the moment, with the Red Devils currently sitting in eighth place in the Premier League, already 19 points behind leaders Manchester City.
Mourinho’s side are winless in their last three league games, only beating Young Boys 1-0 in the Champions League, and December doesn’t get any easier for them with, Arsenal, Valencia and Liverpool all to come within the next four fixtures.
The post Marcus Rashford expected to make Arsenal clash after requesting substitution v Saints appeared first on Squawka News.
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