Red-hot Marcus Rashford bags brace for in-form Manchester United in victory over Leicester

Marcus Rashford's remarkable form continued with a thumping brace as Manchester United survived a sloppy start to comfortably beat Leicester in the Premier League following a build-up dominated by takeover talk.

Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani and Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS company confirmed they had submitted bids to buy the club from the Glazer family in the lead up to Sunday’s Premier League match.

Erik ten Hag said his team were not distracted by that but looked leggy after Thursday’s Europa League draw at Barcelona, riding their luck against Leicester before Jadon Sancho complemented Rashford’s double in the win.

The 25-year-old has scored 16 goals in 17 matches since the World Cup to take his tally to 24, breaking his previous single-season scoring record of 22 for his boyhood club before February was out.

Rashford’s confident, low opener came after David de Gea had kept United in it against Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester, denying Harvey Barnes and Kelechi Iheanacho with outstanding saves.

It allowed the Spaniard to equal Peter Schmeichel’s club record of 180 clean sheets and provided the platform for victory, with Rashford’s second awarded after a VAR review before substitute Sancho struck.

The three points keeps United’s Premier League title hopes alive and sets them up nicely for a pair of crucial games, with the return leg against Barcelona followed by the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle.

This had looked anything other than a 3-0 home win during the start made by Leicester, who found De Gea in inspired form in the seventh minute when denying Barnes’ snapshot with a superb one-handed reaction stop.

Harry Souttar headed over from the resulting corner and Iheanacho saw a drive blocked by Victor Lindelof after