- Ten Hag pointed to Martial's goal record
- French striker set to make first start in three months against Sevilla
- His return comes as Rashford is ruled out for next few games
WHAT HAPPENED? The United manager pointed to Martial's impressive scoring record despite the fact he has played less than half the team's matches this season due to a series of injuries. And he said the Frenchman was finally ready to start in Thursday's Europa League quarter-final first leg against Sevilla, which would be his first start in three months.
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WHAT THEY SAID: "The stats tell you the moment he is on the pitch the time he needs for a goal is really less and when he is in the team, I refer to games against Manchester City and Liverpool, we play our best football and have our best results as a team," Ten Hag told a press conference. "I just pointed to the stats and I see how he contributed to the team."
THE BIGGER PICTURE: A back injury and repeated muscle problems have meant that Martial has only made 17 appearances all season, just nine of which were starts. But despite playing a total of just 729 minutes, he has scored seven goals and provided two assists. Although he returned to full training five weeks ago, the Frenchman is yet to start a match since the 2-1 win over Manchester City on January 14.
But with Marcus Rashford out injured, Martial is set to return to the line-up against Sevilla, having come off the bench in the recent wins against Brentford and Everton, scoring in the latter. Ten Hag added: "I think he is ready to start a game, but the front line against Brentford did really well and we decided to continue that against Everton. They did really well again, and the advantage is we can bring Anthony Martial slowly back into the team, give him minutes and get him used to high intensity. But against Everton he was ready to start again."
AND WHAT'S MORE: Ten Hag also said there was a chance Harry Maguire could keep his place in the team against Sevilla after completing 90 minutes against Everton and helping the team keep a clean sheet. "He is in contention for every game because he is a very good player. We have seen on Saturday how good he is and in the team he was doing really well, but we have more [players].
Next Match
"I am happy how my team are defending, we are defending with 11 and we have a great goalie. That gives us so many clean sheets and we are happy with that. We are making good progress but we have to keep that going but we are not satisfied. We want to do more, we know if you want to win leagues and competitions clean sheets are always the basis of it."
IN THREE PHOTOS:
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Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT? Manchester United face six-time Europa League winners Sevilla in a quarter-final first leg on Thursday.