Rashford credits versatility for great form

The Academy graduate's ninth-minute strike was enough to hand the Reds all three points in the East Midlands, and gave Rashford something to celebrate on the occasion of his 100th Premier League appearance.

 

Only Ryan Giggs has reached that milestone quicker in the famous shirt during the last 27 years, and Marcus believes playing in the modern era - where forwards are expected to be more versatile - has helped him.

"I don't think anyone grows up wanting to just be a striker nowadays," said the Reds' no.10. "I think the game's changed. You want to be an all-round forward and you want to be able to play on the left, play on the right, play no.10, play wherever the team needs you, and I think what's happened in my career so far has enabled me to do that so I'm grateful.

 

"[It] was a different kind of game," assessed Rashford of the 1-0 win at the King Power Stadium. "I think it had different challenges but you know it's very difficult, so to get the win is very good.

 

"It [the winning feeling] has huge importance, but for us we're looking at blocks of work and we just keep trying to improve ourselves. The last result [against Burnley] wasn't what we wanted, so we had to improve and we did that today."

Rashford latched on to a superbly crafted aerial assist from Paul Pogba to open the scoring, and praised the Frenchman for the supply line that has created numerous goals for the Reds in recent weeks.

"I think time and time again he provides opportunities for the team and that's what we want from him," admitted the Wythenshawe-born striker. "If we can get him free as much as we can then he can make these passes all day long. He'll find you and getting the goal just sets it in stone and we have to keep improving, keep doing it more and more and hopefully we can score more goals."

 

The result helped United climb to fifth at the expense of Arsenal - whose game against Manchester City kicked off after the game in Leicester finished - but Rashford explained that he and his colleagues are only focused on their own schedule.

 

"You know, we're just concentrating on ourselves. Trying to keep winning matches and then we'll see how it pans out towards the end of the season."