Gary Neville lauds Marcus Rashford after he opened the scoring against Arsenal

Gary Neville has praised Marcus Rashford’s ‘lethal’ goal that gave Manchester United the lead in their crucial tie with Arsenal.

Rashford took the ball from Thomas Partey in the attacking half, stepped up and fired a shot past Aaron Ramsdale at the near post to put Arsenal 1-0 down for the fourth time this season.

The Gunners fought back quickly to level the game through a well-placed header from Eddie Nketiah, but the home side were rocked by United who are the only team to have beaten them in the league this season.

Neville was impressed by the first goal of the game, as he told Sky Sports: ‘This is absolutely lethal. Sloppy from Partey, but this Rashford thing is absolutely brilliant.

‘We saw it warm up before [the game] doing this type of blow, cutting from the left side. It’s past Ramsdale that fast.

“The journey’s trajectory over the last 12 months has been monumental from where it was to where it is today.”

The 25-year-old has scored 17 goals in all competitions this season and has become a key part of Erik ten Hag’s side’s attack.

Neville felt the manager had prepared his side to get the best out of Rashford, explaining: “I think that’s one of the main reasons why he’s kept [Wout] Weghorst in the team to allow Antony and Rashford to stay in their best positions, he wants him on the left and that’s why.

“As I say, we saw him in the warm-up and he was cutting five, six, seven times from the left side to the right foot and hitting the Manchester United warm-up goalkeeper.”

As the game stands, Arsenal’s lead over Manchester City will move to three points and United will overtake Newcastle for third place.

If Mikel Arteta’s men can secure a win, they will move five points clear at the top of the league with one game left over City.