Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford departed his team’s win over Everton ten minutes early after suffering an apparent groin injury.
The England international has been in lethal form all season, but since the World Cup in particular, and his absence in upcoming matches will be a real problem for the Red Devils.
Rashford scored four Premier League goals before the finals in Qatar as Erik ten Hag began to restructure the team, but since returning after Christmas the No.10 has been unstoppable, hitting 11 in 15 league appearances to yield a season tally of 27 in all competitions.
While playing most of the campaign as the left-sided forward in United’s attack, Rashford has more recently been operating at centre-forward after Wout Weghorst’s struggles in front of goal.
But that run of form looks set to come to an end for now, with the 25-year-old pulling up at the end of a run inside the penalty box and immediately signalling to the bench that he needed to be replaced.
Rashford slowly walked the perimeter of the pitch with clear discomfort around his groin muscle region, staying off the field immediately after the incident and heading down the tunnel for treatment - after handing his jersey to a fan on his way.
His potential absence will be somewhat softened by the fact Anthony Martial, who has been beset by injuries himself this term, scored off the bench against Everton to seal a 2-0 win following Scott McTominay’s first-half opener.
Manager Ten Hag bemoaned the number of games and the gap between fixtures when asked about Rashford’s injury post-match. "I don't know. It is like this when you have to play so many games in short notice, especially when the schedule is this tight,” he told the BBC. “Players can't recover and you run the risk that players can get injured. You have to be aware of that.
"You can't say [exactly what has happened], even when you speak to him. We have to wait until tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, then we will see what is the diagnosis.”
The boss also added his voice to others calling for different match kick-off times to allow players to recover.
“Some things you can’t avoid but this was avoidable, why was the Premier League giving us the late Sunday night game and the early Saturday game, I think that is the risk and then players can’t recover so quickly,” Ten Hag said in his press conference. “All science and research tell you players need a certain time to recover. It is also part of the schedule that we are now finding ourselves in this situation and now we can only pray he is not dropping off”.
Man United’s upcoming run sees them host Sevilla in midweek in the Europa League quarter-final first leg - a game Rashford will now be an obvious doubt for - before trips to Nottingham Forest, Sevilla, Brighton and Tottenham in a defining period of the season.
Jadon Sancho’s recent return to action gives United further options in attack, while Christian Eriksen also made his comeback from injury off the bench during the win over Everton.
