How does Solskjaer assess Rashford's form?

Our no.10 suffered a long-term back injury in January which kept him out for several months and, having recovered during the mid-season hiatus, the forward has played every single game since Project Restart.

In the six matches since football’s resumption, the Reds have scored an impressive 17 goals and Rashford bagged one of those, during the 5-2 victory over Bournemouth, while also contributing to the cause with his selfless work up front.

Speaking ahead of Monday’s Premier League clash with Southampton, the boss offered his honest assessment of Marcus and his form since the restart.

“I’m very happy with him,” Ole told reporters. “He’s physically coping well with the games. He’s mixing up his game, he’s making defenders think.

“He runs in behind, he comes short, he can play a pass, he’s got individual skills. So, Marcus has got all the attributes to be a top forward.

“You can see our players suddenly pop up on the right, Mason [Greenwood] on the left, Anthony [Martial] on the left or right. You want that rotation between them but also, sometimes, the discipline to stick out wide and create space for others and create space to run for others.

“Sometimes, for me, you make an assist when you make space for others and we see it,” he added.

Remarkably it’s 11 months since we faced Southampton in the reverse league meeting, when Daniel James’s thunderbolt strike in late August was cancelled out by Jannik Vestergaard’s second-half header.

Both sides have faced plenty of challenges and triumphs since then, but with the Reds hoping to end the season by gaining a Champions League spot, Ole is focused on the future.

“We’ve had an up-and-down season,” said the boss. “We started fantastically well against Chelsea with a great win. We played some very good football.

“Then we got a setback and I think the players have stuck to their tasks in difficult times, in hard times and believed in what we are trying to do. They trusted us when the results weren't going great, that we just wanted to keep working.

“Now the results are coming and the excitement is coming. Now it’s time to keep your feet on the ground, keep working and don’t believe the hype or the all the praise. That’s not their job; their job is to perform when they play - but then don’t believe in all the criticism when you don’t play well.

“Trust your team-mates and trust yourself. Now we can see the end is not too far away. It’s a strange one because we’ve been out for so long. There’s only four games left of the season, so the goal is getting close.”

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