Manchester United endured more festive frustration as an Old Trafford stalemate with Southampton made it three draws in a week.

Failure to beat Leicester and Burnley saw them fall well short of the blistering pace set by Premier League leaders Manchester City and a goalless draw with the Saints means they slipped into third behind Chelsea.

Both sides had good enough chances to steal all three points the first of which fell to Romelu Lukaku, who was carried off on a stretcher with an oxygen mask in the first half after a clash of heads with Wesley Hoedt.

Here, we focus on Rashford’s performance.

 

BASIC STATS

Minutes – 76

Goals – 0

Assists – 0

Shots – 3

Dribbles – 2

Passes – 7

Key passes – 1

Pass Accuracy – 71.4%

Touches – 29

EFFECTIVENESS

The striker showed his eagerness within two minutes of being introduced for the injured Romelu Lukaku, winning a corner at the end of a bulldozing run.

With Southampton sitting on the edge of their own box, Rashford was one of the main focal points due to his pace on the counter attack.

Playing in his favourite centre-forward position, the 20-year-old looked sharp when collecting possession, but he was shorn of opportunities in key areas in the second half – with United poor going forward.

The Englishman will need to step up over the coming weeks to fill in for Lukaku – with the full extent of his head injury yet to be confirmed.

KEY MOMENTS

30th min: Rashford has a glorious opportunity to open the scoring when Ashley Young whips in a cleverly weighed cross, but he miscues his header wide from six yards.

45th min: Another golden chance for United goes abegging when Rashford picks up the ball in the box, but Maya Yoshida dispossesses him and goalkeeper Alex McCarthy clears.

55nd min: Driftes wide to take the ball, but his threatening cross was taken into the arms of McCarthy.

OUR VERDICT

He didn’t receive great service but he could’ve done better with a couple of chances, attempting to be too precise when perhaps a snapshot was the order of the day in a crowded Southampton box.

Wasn’t able to run in behind and stretch the defence either.

6/10