West Ham may have been handed a boost ahead of the visit of Manchester United on Saturday evening as Red Devils manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær confirmed Marcus Rashford is a doubt for the trip to east London.
The 23-year-old had to be taken off with 15 minutes remaining of the 3-1 loss to PSG in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Rashford, who has been doing fine work on and off the pitch this year, immediately walked down the tunnel and, following the match, Solskjaer confirmed the issue to BT Sport. He said: ‘It’s a niggling shoulder injury. Let’s see how quickly he can recover. Hopefully, he will be ready for the West Ham game.’
The England international – who had scored earlier in the match – would be a huge loss for the Old Trafford side, for whom he has nine goals and five assists in all competitions this season.
Manchester United’s potential loss is of course West Ham United’s gain as David Moyes will no doubt be quietly pleased if Rashford, who of course he will know firsthand from his time in Manchester, is not on the opposition team sheet on Saturday.
The striker has an impressive record against the Hammers as well, scoring twice and setting up three other goals in just seven outings against the east Londoners.
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Saturday’s visitors hold plenty of attacking threat even without Rashford and the personnel across the Irons’ back five will have to be at the very top of their game in order to keep the visitors quiet.
The 39-cap England forward normally operates on either the left or right wing these days and would likely be replaced by Mason Greenwood if not deemed fit enough for the clash. In that case, either Vladimir Coufal or Arthur Masuaku would likely still be in for a tough evening’s work against the prestigious talent.
The Hammers, meanwhile, will be looking to impose their own attacking forces on Manchester United – who currently sit four places below them in the table. The Red Devils’ defence has been less than convincing at times and Moyes’ side can be confident in their ability to cause problems, having beaten them in the last two instalments of this particular fixture.
