Marcus Rashford scored twice on his Premier League debut, while Michael Carrick was again forced to deputise at centre-half as Louis van Gaal’s injury-hit side kept their top four hopes alive. ‘He scored two goals against Midtjylland and now against Arsenal.
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Rashford was joined in making his United league debut by 18-year-old Tim Fosu-Mensah, who came off the bench in the second-half to replace the injured Marcos Rojo.
The win lifts fifth-placed United to within three points of Manchester City but they remain 12 points off league leaders Leicester City who are five ahead of Arsene Wenger’s Gunners who missed a golden opportunity to assert their authority on their title pursuit.
“It’s just insane. This is my first game in the Premier League so obviously it’s been incredible, and to score two has been a bonus”.
Both their goals owed as much to poor United defending rather than incisive Arsenal attacking, and the visitors created scant opportunities on an afternoon when their own defending was amateurish.
Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata has told team-mate Marcus Rashford to keep his feet on the ground after the teenager became an overnight sensation last week.
“Van Gaal has had a lot of money at Man Utd to buy new players and in that environment, you have to perform”. “He could be a very positive surprise for Manchester United”, the French manager had said after the game. Arsene Wenger must be tearing his hair out.
“I can imagine a lot of them”, he said.
“You get the chance and you have to perform”.
“This is the reason why we have a smaller squad, so we can give young players a chance”, says Van Gaal.
I think people are a bit too emotional and we want to put things into perspective by analysing things a bit more in a neutral way.
“We’ve seen this season all the teams above slip up and all the teams have some bad results”.
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“Maybe it will not be his decision in the end because United can sack him, but I also feel as if Louis will know when he needs to go. I have always said it is not a matter of age, it is a matter of quality and he shows it”.
