An arm-wrestle, a nonevent, a fair share of the spoils: any of these verdicts might have been apt until, deep into added time, Marcus Rashford finished Edinson Cavani’s cross from the left to send himself, Manchester United, and the Old Trafford faithful into ecstasy. Cue Rashford, who has been off-colour, rushing across the Stretford End to knee-slide, joined by his jubilant teammates.
If there may be a debate as to whether any part of Cavani’s arm was offside, Ralf Rangnick deserves full credit as the No 21, Rashford and Anthony Martial – who had played in the Uruguayan – were late attacking substitutions. For Rashford this was a second goal in consecutive outings: across this game and Wednesday’s 3-1 win at Brentford, he has doubled his Premier League output for the season. The forward, like United, may be stirring in the business phase of the campaign.
