Erik Ten Hag facing anxious wait after Rashford limps off

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag is facing an anxious wait after striker Marcus Rashford limped out of his side’s 2-0 Premier League win over Everton.

The 25-year-old England international pulled up 10 minutes from time at Old Trafford after stretching in an attempt to reach the ball.

Ten Hag admitted after the final whistle that he did not yet know the extent of the damage, but blamed a congested fixture schedule for Rashford’s problem.

Asked about the injury, the Dutchman told BT Sport: “We have to wait. It doesn’t look well.

“Once again, that is due to the schedule. It can’t be that you play three games in six days. We have to protect our players.

“Everyone wants that the best players are on the pitch, everyone wants to see great entertaining football like today, but then you need your best players.”

Former United midfielder Paul Scholes, working as a BT pundit for the game, was keeping his fingers crossed for a speedy recovery.

Scholes said: “He’s been brilliant for us this season. You never quite know with Marcus, he does tend to go down quite a bit with injuries and all of a sudden perks up and makes a miraculous recovery.

“I’m just hoping that it’s a little bit of fatigue or maybe a little bit of cramp.”

Scott McTominay celebrates Man Utd’s opener in a 2-0 win over Everton (Mike Egerton/PA).

Rashford’s premature exit came around 20 minutes after Anthony Martial had scored as a substitute as he continued to work his way back to full match fitness.

The pair could prove crucial to United’s bid for a top-four finish and any lay-off for the former would leave a huge hole in ten Hag’s attacking resources.

Asked about Martial, Scholes said: “It’s great to have him back. We all know the quality he’s got, it’s just can he get through it now, can he get through to the end of the season? He hasn’t got a great record fitness-wise, but we all know how good a player he is.

“If he’s playing in this team, he’s scoring 20-25 goals and that adds up then to that gap – there is a big gap in goals between United and City and Arsenal.

“It’s a little bit of a blow with Rashford. I just hope he’s okay because just as Martial comes back, he goes out. Those two together play really well, they have some kind of link that has been missing in forward areas. They are both very dangerous.

“I hope Marcus is okay and it gives you that option. You need four or five players who are contribute to get you up to 70 or 80 goals, and I think Martial and Marcus together could possibly bring half of those.”