Rashford surpasses Cantona's United goals haul

With so many chances finding the net it might have been difficult to single out which finish may have been the most significant, but by converting Mason Greenwood’s low cross Rashford earned his 83rd goal for the Reds – one more than Eric Cantona and put him 25th on our all-time list of top goalscorers.

Reacting to his achievement as he spoke to BT Sport after the full-time whistle, he said: “He’s obviously a top player [Cantona] that’s done a lot for this club so yeah I’m pleased to go past him and for me I just want to score more goals and keep helping the team.”

He added that more important than the emphatic scoreline was the result, as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side look to keep up the pressure in the title race.

“It’s always good to score lots of goals and it’s three points that we needed. We’ve dropped some points in the last few games and we needed to get back to winning ways so today was a brilliant opportunity to do that.

“The first half really set the tone for us. From there when we’ve come in at half-time it’s just about keeping the right mentality and a positive attitude really and going to finish a game and score more goals.”

The visitors were reduced to 10 men in just the second minute as Alexandre Jankewitz went in on Scott McTominay with studs raised – hitting him on the thigh. While a shocking tackle, Marcus believes there was no malice in it.

“It’s a challenge where, I think it’s quite unlucky – I don’t think he’s meant it in a nasty way," said Rashford. "But he’s just a little bit late there and Scotty’s felt the consequences of that. I think it was a red card, but unfortunate for the young player.”

He added that the team’s success against the sometimes challenging task of facing a side with one less player was overcome by keeping things simple.

“Keep it moving and just be positive, it’s easy to take your foot off that gas and just keep possession," explained Marcus. "But we wanted to go out in the second half and score more goals and the lads did that.”

The result means United are level on points with Premier League leaders Manchester City and are only kept off top spot by goal difference, but Marcus doesn’t want to be distracted by the performances of our rivals.

“We have to not look at them and focus on ourselves," he insisted. "We’re a team that’s still improving.

"We’re not a team that’s been a ready-made team for the last two or three years, I think we’re just getting there now and we’re still learning a lot as a group so we have to concentrate on ourselves and just keep improving and working on ourselves."

Off the field it has been a challenging week for Marcus and the Reds after he became the third United player in recent days to be subject to racist abuse online. 

“It’s something that’s happening," he said. "As much as we try and make it look like a sport that is full of positives, which for me growing up that’s what I’ve always seen football as, it was a sport where people can express themselves and just be themselves on the pitch and it’s disappointing when things like this happen in football, but the reality of it is that it’s happening and we all have to stand up and be heard really.

"That’s all I can really say on it, time will tell if the situation improves – but as for the time being it’s not really improved over the last few years.”