Ten Hag confident Rashford will be fit for Newcastle

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is confident Marcus Rashford will be fit for Sunday's Premier League trip to Newcastle after pulling out of the England squad through injury.

The 25-year-old forward is in the form of his life, having scored 19 goals in 25 club appearances since his impressive World Cup showing in Qatar.

Rashford was called up for March’s European qualification double-header against Italy and Ukraine, only to withdraw with a knock picked up in the FA Cup quarter-final win against Fulham.

He returned to individual training this week and Ten Hag is expecting to be able to call upon him at St James’ Park this weekend.

"I’ve good hope," he said of Rashford. "He trained but he had to do some treatment, he had to do some individual training.

"Today he joined in with the group. We have one more day, so I have a good hope he is available, yeah. I think so."

Rashford was enjoying a break in New York when England were winning 2-1 in Italy, leading Gareth Southgate to defend the forward’s decision to jet off to the United States.

The player posted a photo with the caption "downtime" during his time on the east coast and Ten Hag believes that break when recovering from his unspecified issue was beneficial.

"I think it’s positive that he was in a break," the United boss said. "I think Rashford, I think (along) with Bruno (Fernandes), he was playing the most games of the whole squad.

"I think Manchester United is playing the most games all across Europe and our internationals are not mostly on the bench, mostly they are playing.

"So our players play the most games and this is crazy season, so they also need times that they can have a breather and can collect energy.

"For me, it’s positive that he took that time to turn off