Marcus Rashford’s 23rd and 24th goals of a campaign he will long cherish were taken with cool aplomb and sent Manchester United en route to the perfect start of what they hope proves a landmark eight days. Erik ten Hag’s men are again five points behind Arsenal, having played a game more, and entertain Barcelona here in Thursday’s Europa League playoff second leg, the tie poised at 2-2. Knock the Catalan side out and beat Newcastle in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final and United will have enjoyed their finest week of recent memory.
Rashford’s first-half opener, against a Leicester team that might have already been 4-0 up, made him the first United player to score in seven consecutive Premier League home outings since Wayne Rooney in 2010. For the centre-forward’s second, after the break, he skated on to Fred’s pass and beat Danny Ward through the goalkeeper’s legs, while Jadon Sancho’s finish derived, too, from a smart United sequence: Lisandro Martínez pickpocketed Kelechi Iheanacho and passed to Rashford, who pinged the ball to the wide man. After he swapped passes with Bruno Fernandes, Sancho’s left foot did the rest.
