Unai Emery hails ‘fantastic’ Marcus Rashford after Aston Villa see off Chelsea

Unai Emery has lauded ‘fantastic’ Aston Villa loanee Marcus Rashford after his two assists helped secure a 2-1 win over Chelsea on Saturday. Rashford, who joined Villa in the January transfer window on loan from Manchester United, came off the bench at half-time to set up both of Marco Asensio’s goals as Emery’s team completed a stunning turnaround.

Villa were 1-0 down when Rashford was introduced, with the Englishman registering a fine performance in the impressive 2-1 comeback victory. Rashford was singled out for praise by pundits, his teammates and his manager, Emery, following the thrilling Premier League clash at Villa Park.

Speaking after the game, Emery told Sky Sports: [We] support him, help him, try to feel comfortable here, try to get confidence with us. ‘[We] try to use his skill in our tactical idea. He’s in the process and of course he played a fantastic 45 minutes. Already he is going to be very important.’.

Rashford, who was dramatically frozen out at United by head coach Ruben Amorim, could end up joining Villa permanently at the end of the season if the Midlands club decide to trigger their £40m buy option. The 27-year-old came through United’s academy and has been at the club for a total of 20 years, scoring 138 goals across 426 games for the Red Devils.

Rashford, a key player at Old Trafford under previous managers, had previously been considered one of the top strikers across all of Europe but his form dramatically dipped from the summer of 2023 onwards. It appears Rashford is getting his career back on track at Villa, though, with two of his teammates heaping praise on him after the win over Chelsea.

‘We know the quality of Marcus,’ fellow Villa loanee Asensio said. ‘He helps us a lot. We are so happy. Thank you also to Marcus for the two assists!’. Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans, meanwhile, added: ‘[We are] very pleased, especially the way he is performing now and with the two assists today.

‘Marcus is someone who can threaten everyone one-versus-one and even one-versus-two. He is very important for us in the way he plays because he gives us something different on the left-hand side. ‘You could tell today every time he got the ball he was dangerous and hopefully with many more minutes in his legs he will only get better.’.

Football pundit Jamie Redknapp declared that other clubs will be left scratching their heads as to why they decided not to take a punt on Rashford. ‘That’s how to do the transfer window,’ Redknapp said about Villa’s call to bring in Rashford. ‘That’s how to handle it, that’s what you do, you go and do business. To bring in Marcus, that’s a masterclass.

‘You look at other clubs and how they didn’t bring players in, I’m sure there’s directors of football all round the world with their head in their hands right now, thinking, ‘Why didn’t I get Marcus Rashford?’. ‘I get the doubts, I would have been one of them. I’d have been nervous about doing it. But right now Aston Villa look like they’ve really got great business done.’.

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