Marcus Rashford set to miss out on England recall after Man United injury blow

Marcus Rashford's hopes of an England recall have taken a blow after the Manchester United striker was ruled out of Thursday's Europa League match against Sheriff Tiraspol.

Rashford has made an impressive start to the Erik ten Hag era at United and scored twice in their 3-1 victory over Premier League table-toppers Arsenal last time out.

He also found the net in the home victory over rivals Liverpool in August and was in line to play for England for the first time since missing his penalty in the shoot-out loss to Italy in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley last summer.

But the 24-year-old picked up a muscle injury in the win against the Gunners and did not travel to Moldova with the rest of the United squad

England manager Gareth Southgate is due to announce his squad on Thursday afternoon for the coming Nations League matches against Italy and Germany.

But even if Rashford misses out what will be the last time Southgate gets to see players up close before the World Cup that starts in November, Ten Hag believes the attacker should be part of the squad going to Qatar.

“That’s quite obvious and quite clear, yes [he should go to the World Cup],” said the Dutch coach. “He played really good seasons and I think in this season he had a great comeback and showed his great potential and quality.

“He’s not available [for Thursday's game], a consequence after Arsenal. He has a muscle injury. I don’t think too long, but I don't know. It’s not really bad, we expect him quite soon to be back in the team.”

Having lost their first group-stage game at home to Real Sociedad, Ten Hag played down the suggestion that the pressure has been cranked up on his team.

“Pressure is for every game, we have to win the game,” he said. “When you lose the