Rashford now has 16 goals in 17 games since the World Cup and 24 for the season. It’s already his best single-season tally, and it’s only February. With United still in four competitions, he could easily reach 40 before the end of the campaign. It’s a remarkable turnaround after scoring just five times in all competitions last season.
Ten Hag deserves a lot of credit, but so does Rashford for bouncing back so emphatically. If his form continues, he’ll put himself in contention for the top individual honours.
The PFA Players’ Player of the Year award has been dominated by Manchester City and Liverpool for the past five years, and Rashford would be United’s first winner since Wayne Rooney in 2010.
3. Leicester made to pay for early missed chances
Before Rashford’s intervention, Leicester were well on top and on a different day could have been 3-0 up inside 20 minutes. United had De Gea to thank for two top-quality saves — the first as he rushed out to deny Harvey Barnes and then another from a Kelechi Iheanacho header that was sneaking inside the post — while Iheanacho had another good chance snuffed out by Victor Lindelof when he should have at least hit the target.
Goals haven’t been a problem for Leicester after scoring eight in their previous two league games against Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur, but they were made to pay for not finding the net early on at Old Trafford. If any of those chances had gone in, it would have been a different game against a United team who started like they were suffering a post-Barcelona hangover.
Rashford’s first goal came out of nothing after a mistake from Wout Faes, and then two quick goals after half-time ended the contest. Brendan Rodgers will feel that Marcel Sabitzer was lucky to stay on the pitch following a nasty-looking challenge at 1-0, but Leicester only have themselves to blame for not getting a result.
