Erik ten Hag dropped Wout Weghorst and Manchester United scored in the Premier League again. That was no coincidence. Without the non-scoring striker, United instead benefited from a forward in increasingly distinguished company. Marcus Rashford delivered their first top-flight goal since 19 February and restored them to the top four – a modicum of revenge for August’s thrashing by Brentford.
In a tale of United attackers past and present, he finds himself in more illustrious company than Weghorst, who has been an incongruous presence as a United striker. Rashford belongs rather more naturally in a grand tradition. His 121st United goal moved him level with Andy Cole. His former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, on 126, looks catchable by the end of the season, perhaps even by the end of the month.
