Rashford's positive update from training

The training ground was temporarily closed down to halt the spread of COVID-19 cases and it re-opened on Tuesday, the day after the Premier League confirmed festive fixtures would go ahead. 

Our recent games against Brentford and Brighton were both postponed, of course, but next Monday’s trip to Newcastle is on and Ralf Rangnick’s Reds are looking forward to the occasion. 

United are unbeaten in six matches across all competitions and the last three of those were earned under the interim management of Rangnick, who is working diligently to implement his philosophy.  

As Rashford told us at Carrington today, the players have handled the recent postponements professionally and everybody is excited for our return to action at St. James’ Park. 

“The lads have been training and today we brought all the rest of the lads back to training, there are only a couple left that will be coming in tomorrow," says Marcus in the latest episode of our news bulletin, United Daily.

“So, we’ve pretty much got the full squad back, which is a positive going into the week.”

United earned a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace from Rangnick’s first match in charge and a much-changed side followed that up with a credible Champions League draw against Young Boys. Our most recent outing was a valuable 1-0 win over Norwich City in torrid conditions at Carrow Road. 

Rashford believes everyone is determined to build on these positive results, starting at Newcastle: “Everyone is looking forward and everyone is very positive at the minute. We were all disappointed when the last game got cancelled but, at the end of the day, there’s nothing you can really do about it. We have to just focus on the next game that will be played and hopefully that game goes ahead.”

As everybody knows, the Christmas schedule can often have a massive influence on your overall season with so many matches packed into a short amount of time. Rashford loves this time of year, predictably, and the Manchester lad is confident that we will be successful. 

“Yeah, I definitely enjoy this time of year. I think the way you start the season and the way you play, and the results you get around the Christmas period, are probably the two most important points [in the season]. So, if we have a good Christmas period now, then we can keep that momentum going and that will take you into the big games where the trophies are, come the end of the season.”