Erik ten Hag has placed his faith in Anthony Martial to replace Manchester United’s injured top goalscorer, Marcus Rashford, as the forward is set to be out for a “few games” because of a muscle problem suffered in the 81st minute of Saturday’s 2-0 win over Everton.
Rashford has scored 28 goals in 47 appearances this season and United announced that he will be absent for this evening’s Europa League quarter-final first leg visit of Sevilla, Sunday’s trip to Nottingham Forest and, almost certainly, next week’s return game at the Spanish club.
“He is disappointed but is not totally broke because he knows he will return quickly and has started his recovery,” Ten Hag said.
Martial has experienced his own injury issues this term and throughout his time at the club. He made his third substitute appearance on Saturday after the hip injury that ruled him out for a month.
However, Ten Hag has pointed to the Frenchman’s ratio and insisted that he is not concerned about his ability to stay fit.
“He is ready to start a game — against Everton he was ready to start,” Ten Hag said. “The stats are telling you that the moment he is on the pitch the time he needs for a goal is really less [not much].
“I refer to the [home] games against Man City, against Liverpool: when he’s in the team, we play our best football and have our best results. I see how he contributes.”
Martial set to fill void against former club
Martial, who was loaned out to Sevilla last season, has scored seven goals in 17 appearance this season which equates to a goal every 114 minutes that he has played. He started against City but was taken off injured at half-time, while he entered at the interval versus Liverpool.
Regarding Martial’s ability to now remain fit, Ten Hag added: “We don’t have to force things. The frontline against Brentford and Everton worked really well, continually we were a threat.”
United have relied on Rashford’s great goalscoring run this season. Wout Weghorst has scored two goals in 17 appearances, Bruno Fernandes eight in 45 and Jadon Sancho six in 28. Meanwhile, Antony has found the back of the net six times across 29 games but has not scored in the Premier League since October.
“He did score against [Real] Betis a really important goal after half time [in 4-1 win] and against Barcelona, the winner and you can’t say they are not big games,” Ten Hag countered by highlighting the Brazilian’s impact in this competition.
“He is a fighter and likes challenges and with him in the team, teams are winning. That is why he is selected often in the starting 11 of the Selecao [Brazil]. He can kill opponents, we have seen on Saturday when the manager of Everton brings on another player at half-time because he is killing the left full-back [Ben Godfrey].”
For the Sevilla game, United will also be without Scott McTominay, who has joined Luke Shaw on the sidelines. The manager has said he expects both to be back soon.