Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial both reached 250 appearances for Manchester United in Tuesday’s FA Cup win over West Ham.
Neither was able to mark the milestone with a goal, as Scott McTominay scored the only goal on the night to set up a quarter-final clash against Leicester City.
But Rashford and Martial have certainly done their bit for the Red Devils attack over the past six seasons – and the two have remarkably similar records.
Martial has scored 78 goals and posted 49 assists for United, while Rashford just nudges it on both counts, with 83 strikes and 51 assists.
The forwards are a similar age – with Martial two years older at 25 – and both became part of the first-team picture at Old Trafford under Louis van Gaal during the 2015/16 season.
(Image: PA)
Martial was signed as a 19-year-old for £54million from Monaco in September 2015, while Rashford was of course an academy product and made his breakthrough for his boyhood club later that season.
Both players made dream goalscoring debuts – with Martial netting in a 3-1 Premier League win over Liverpool 11 days after joining the club.
Ironically, it was an injury to Martial which led to Rashford getting his big break, with the then 18-year-old bagging a brace in a 5-1 victory over Midtjylland in the Europa League in February 2016.
Those goals made him United’s youngest ever goalscorer in European competition – a record which has since been broken by Mason Greenwood.
(Image: Shaun Botterill/Getty)
And Rashford made the most of his call-up to the first team with a scintillating Premier League bow three days later, scoring twice and setting up the other in a 3-2 victory over Arsenal.
Since that first campaign together, Rashford and Martial have played for three different managers and have linked up directly for 16 goals during their 155 matches together, according to Manchester United’s official website.
The last time they combined was for Martial’s goal in the 2-0 win over Everton in the EFL Cup quarter-final in December.
Other famous link-ups between the pair include Rashford’s brilliant back-heel to set up Martial against Norwich last season, and the England striker’s screamer against West Ham which helped United towards a 12th FA Cup triumph in 2016.
(Image: Matthew Peters/Man Utd via Getty)
The team who must fear the pair the most is surely Sheffield United, with Rashford and Martial having combined for three goals against the Blades – more than against any other team.
Meanwhile, Martial’s favourite team to score against is Everton, with the French forward having netted six goals in 10 games against the Toffees.
For Rashford, it’s Leicester and Chelsea, who have each conceded five times against the Wythenshawe lad.
Rashford has never lost against Leicester, while his goals against Chelsea include his Cristiano Ronaldo-esque free-kick at Stamford Bridge in the Carabao Cup in November 2019.
(Image: Getty Images)
The 23-year-old has certainly shown himself to be a big-game player, with 18 goals and six assists in 45 games against United’s ‘Big Six’ rivals.
He has four goals each against the Red Devils’ fierce rivals Liverpool and Manchester City, as well as three against Tottenham and two against Arsenal.
By comparison, Martial has 12 goals and seven assists in 37 games against the rest of the big six – with four strikes against Chelsea, three against City, two against both Liverpool and Arsenal, and one against Spurs.
Finally, a look over the past six campaigns shows that Rashford has become progressively more important for United each season.
(Image: Manchester United via Getty Imag)
After scoring five Premier League goals in each of his first two campaigns, he netted 10 in his third and 17 last term – and is on course to match or beat that tally with eight league strikes so far this term.
Martial scoring 11 league goals in his debut campaign, but only managed four the following season. However, he has increased his contribution steadily after that, netting nine and 10 in the subsequent league campaigns before matching Rashford’s tally of 17 last term.
As for this season, Rashford is out in front of his team-mate. The England ace is United’s second-top scorer behind Bruno Fernandes with 16 in all competitions, plus 11 assists, having made 36 appearances this campaign.
Martial has played eight fewer games, and has scored seven goals and notched eight assists.
Both players will be hoping to add to their personal hauls when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side travel to face West Brom on Sunday.
