Erik ten Hag fumes about PL fixture schedule after Marcus Rashford limps off

Erik ten Hag fumed about the Premier League fixture schedule after Marcus Rashford limped off with an injury that leaves Manchester United sweating on their star player’s fitness.

The Saturday lunchtime clash with relegation-threatned Everton ended in a straightforward 2-0 win thanks to Scott McTominay’s strike and substitute Anthony Martial’s first league goal of 2023.

The latter has endured an injury-hit season and may have returned at the just the right time given Rashford pulled up shortly after providing the assist for the Frenchman’s goal.

The 27-year-old sharpshooter held his groin after trying to meet a Christian Eriksen ball over the top and immediately indicated to the bench that he was hurt.

The dejected forward trudged around the pitch with a heavy limp and was consoled by Ten Hag before heading down the tunnel, with the manager later saying he “doesn’t look well”.

“I can’t say in this moment,” the United boss said. “You are a doctor, maybe I’m not.

“We have to wait – how bad or how good it is. So, yeah, obviously he went off with a complaint and now we have to wait, set a diagnosis and then we can see.

“Also, when I asked now the doctor I get the same answer.”

This was United’s third Premier League match in seven days, having lost 2-0 at Newcastle last Sunday before beating Brentford 1-0 on Wednesday evening.

Asked what his solution to the fixture calendar was after Ten Hag told BT his injury was “due to the schedule”, the Dutchman said: “Some things you can’t avoid but that was avoidable.

“Why is the Premier League giving us the late Sunday night game and giving us the early Saturday game? I think it’s not right.

“Then you run the risk. The players can’t recover that quickly and we know all the science, all