“I was thinking for a long time that he could play better as a full-back”. The teenager has scored four goals in his first two appearances with the senior squad, and should at least play a role in the squad until Martial is fully healed.
Advertisement
But Louis van Gaal’s side still managed to grind out a victory that allowed them to close the gap on the Premier League’s top four, all of whom dropped points in the mid-week matches.
United went on to beat the rivals 3-2 courtesy of 18-year-old Rashford’s two goals and Welbeck, who has personally suffered because of Rashford’s recent rise to stardom, is pleased to see a fellow Manchester local fulfilling his potential.
Van Gaal, whose team have won three games in the last week, told MUTV: “Players are coming back”.
A week ago Watford were likely eyeing this midweek tie as one in which to take a big scalp, however, after the last few games, in which United have finally shown their teeth, the visitors are likely to be far more wary.
“You can see the statistics of how many players are already injured and from what date”, Van Gaal said.
“But we are always in our line, our way, respecting the teams but always we are there to be competitive and add points in the matches”.
“He might have come in for that match but we played another system, and Memphis Depay and Jesse Lingard played very well”.
– Manchester United named their fourth youngest starting XI in Premier League history (23 years, 222 days old on average).
“I think we played with high personality, with confidence, we created chances, we matched them”.
Anthony Martial, Matteo Darmian and Chris Smalling are all expected to make their comeback after spending weeks on the sidelines due to injury.
Rashford’s hot form means he is likely to keep his place at the front of the Red Devils’ line-up – on the striker front, Wayne Rooney is out until April. He was having a very good period.
It is also notable that the Hornets come into this one off the back of three defeats in their last four road games in the Premier League (W1).
“Now we are coming into the decisive moments of the competition in the league and the FA Cup”, Van Gaal said.
Advertisement
But such a young team struggled to handle a Watford side who could have been at least two goals up by half time.
