BBC Sport pundit Alan Shearer has praised the performance of Marcus Rashford during Manchester United’s 2-0 FA Cup win over Chelsea in the fifth round. The England international could not find the scoresheet for the third game running but he still made the difference with a sublime right-sided cross for Paul Pogba’s headed goal.

Speaking after the game, Shearer was pleased with the impact of the United graduate, who was a constant threat on the counter-attack against a vulnerable Blues defence. He added to praise the precision of the cross from Rashford for Pogba’s goal, which put United 2-0 ahead right before the half-time interval.

He said: “The cross from Marcus Rashford [for the second goal] is unbelievable. He just puts it into that danger area and says get on the end of that. Look at the whip and pace of that ball in. It’s a wonderful header but it’s terrible defending from Chelsea all over the park. But again, from United’s point of view, it was a wonderful goal. It’s a brilliant goal from a Manchester United perspective.”
“Rashford had been in-and-out of the starting lineup during Jose Mourinho’s time“ at the helm but the Portuguese’s dismissal has coincided with him commanding a regular starting role. Moreover, caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has regularly started him upfront ahead of Romelu Lukaku, “although the Blues game“ was a special case with injuries to Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard.

Nonetheless, the young Englishman made an impact from a wider role on both ends of the field and the faithful will be hoping that he can continue with the same run of form for the rest of the season. Rashford is expected to feature during the weekend’s league meeting against Liverpool and his prospects of leading the line may depend on the fitness of wide duo Martial and Lingard.