The games Rashford could miss for Man United ahead of eight-game run over three-and-a-half weeks 

Manchester United and England star Marcus Rashford has suffered an injury as the forward stumbled during the Red Devils’ victory over Everton.

Despite taking the three points against Sean Dyche’s side, it wasn’t all good news as Erik ten Hag lost his star for over three and a half weeks.

And the head coach blamed Man United’s schedule for the injury, saying: ‘Again, it’s the schedule. It cannot be that you play three games in six days.’

With 27 goals and nine assists in 46 games so far this season, Rashford has been in fine form but will now be sidelined for a while.

With the England international on the verge of missing several matches, Ten Hag will be looking for a member of his squad to replace Rashford’s role.

The striker will also miss both Europa League matches with Sevilla in the quarterfinals

Rashford is likely to be sidelined for Man United’s crucial game against Tottenham Hotspur

Who could Ten Hag play against?

With Rashford ruled out in the coming weeks, the manager will already be thinking about who will join his starting line-up to replace the striker.

Since the World Cup no English player has been in better form than Rashford and his effort on goals will be incredibly hard to replace.

United tend to line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Rashford leading the attack at center forward in recent weeks while Wout Weghorst is deployed behind him.

Against Everton, Rashford played as a lone striker with Jadon Sancho and Antony supporting wide, while Scott McTominay, Bruno Fernandes and Marcel Sabitzer were deployed in midfield.

Ten Hag could opt for this system in the future, with Weghorst returning as striker, or turn to Anthony Martial, who scored against Everton, on his return from injury.

Anthony Martial could replace Rashford in Erik ten Hag’s starting eleven at Manchester United

Can it lead to a formation change?

While Sabitzer was brought in as the furthest forward of the midfielders, United stuck to their 4-2-3-1 form against Everton.

However, with Rashford’s injury we could see Ten Hag take a more defensive approach and put his team in more of a 4-3-3 formation to add an extra central midfielder.

Chritian Eriksen’s return from injury comes at a good time for the Red Devils to provide additional options to suit this system.

However, Ten Hag seems adamant to play his favored 4-2-3-1 in recent weeks and could easily bring in Martial and Weghorst to play as 9 and 10 respectively.

It remains to be seen what the United boss will do, as possession is the fundamental tenet of his footballing identity, but losing their top scorer could mean changes need to be made to the form of the team.

Ten Hag could change from Manchester United’s 4-2-3-1 formation for that period

Which games will Rashford miss?

As we head towards the business end of the season, Manchester United are still in contention for the top four.

It’s fair to say they will miss Rashford as he is sidelined through injury.

In total, he could miss up to eight games if ruled out for the entire three-and-a-half week period.

The full games that Rashford could miss are:

Europa League

• Seville – April 13
• Seville – April 20

Premier League

• Nottingham Forest – April 16
• Brighton & Hove Albion – Apr 23
• Tottenham Hotspur – April 27
• Aston Villa – April 30
• Brighton & Hove Albion – May 4
• West Ham – May 7