Rashford bags Fergie time winner to sink Wolves
DAVID de Gea has told his titlechasing United team-mates to focus on their recovery ahead of a New Year’s Day clash with Aston Villa.
The Reds had to work hard to get the better of Wolves last night, with Marcus Rashford’s 93rdminute winner ensuring they will end 2020 in second place in the Premier League.
The 1-0 win was a gruelling affair and the games are coming thick and fast as usual at this time of year, with just 72 hours’ rest until Villa arrive at Old Trafford.
De Gea believes it’s key for United’s squad to make sure they get their recovery right ahead of that game to make sure they are ready to put in another night of hard work.
“The players have to recover well, we play a lot of games, they run a lot, one of the most important things is to recover well,” the Spaniard said.
De Gea hailed the victory over Wolves a ‘massive win,’ capitalising on the slip-ups of others to make sure the Reds end the year as Liverpool’s closest challengers.
“It was a massive win, we scored at the end of the game, a tight game against a good team, this is the way to be at the top of the league, but the most important thing is to be ready for Aston Villa and recover well,” he said.
“They’re a very good team, they defend very well, have good counter attacks, players with pace up front, it was a tight game, they have good chances, but scoring in the last minute is always good, the three points are massive for us.”
United’s late winner brought back memories of dramatic wins of yesteryear in title races, many of which De Gea has been a part of.
“You have to fight until the end, we have to keep on going until the end, you keep believing and keep
trying we can score winning goals like today,” he said.
But De Gea is refusing to get carried away with talk of the title in 2021.
“We need to be calm, there’s still a lot of games to play, we have many games with the cups as well, be focused on not looking too far forward, looking at the next game,” he said.
Goal hero Rashford, meanwhile, says he purposely looked to exploit the tired legs of Wolves defender Rayan Ait-Nouri in the build-up to his late winner.
The striker toyed with the Wolves defence before seeing his deflected effort find the net.
“It’s the deciding goal,” Rashford said. “Probably not the most beautiful but we will take what we can get and take the three points and move on. It was tough but we expected a tough game but managed to get over the line.
“The full-back had cramp a few minutes before so I just had it in my head I wanted to go at him and make him chop and turn and just see if I could make something happen and, thankfully, in the end we got a deflection.
“It means a lot. We were a little disappointed that we didn’t play as well as we wanted to or could have but it is three points and no matter how scrappy it was we will take it.”