Marcus Rashford declared Manchester United are firmly in the Premier League title race after they closed the gap at the top of the table with an impressive victory over Leicester.
The Red Devils started slowly at Old Trafford but Rashford scored two fine goals and Jadon Sancho came off the bench to add a third in Sunday afternoon's resounding win. United moved five points behind leaders Arsenal - who have played one game fewer - and three behind Manchester City in what is shaping up to be a three-horse title race.
The Premier League trophy has not been lifted at Old Trafford since 2013, when Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge, but the signs are promising under Erik ten Hag. Rashford has no doubt United are vying for the title, although he acknowledges Arsenal and City are two strong adversaries.
"Obviously, we are there, we are close," the 25-year-old told Sky Sports of his side's title credentials. "At the same time, both teams in front of us are really good teams and they are playing good football at the minute as well."
Assessing United's performance as a whole, Rashford showed his class by hailing David de Gea's display between the sticks, even though he was the one to put United in control with his double. De Gea made two brilliant saves to keep the game goalless in the opening stages before Rashford surged through on goal and rifled past Danny Ward into the far corner.
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"Overall, a good day," the in-form forward - who has scored 24 goals in all competitions this season - said. "They [Leicester] created good opportunities and David made a great save at the end of the first half. Without that, we can't go on to win the game."
Rashford had no interest in basking in the victory and quickly turned his attention to United's upcoming fixtures. The Red Devils host Barcelona in the second leg of their Europa League play-off on Thursday, with the aggregate score 2-2, before a trip to Wembley Stadium to face Newcastle in the EFL Cup final three days later.
"It's still early in the season," Rashford added. "We're fighting for a lot of different things and we have another big game in the week to hopefully go through to the next round of the Europa League and then a massive game for us [against Newcastle].
"I don't feel like slowing down and always want to improve. We have to just focus on ourselves, do as well as we can and keep picking up points."
