Clinical Rashford's scoring stats give bosses food for thought

Last updated : 07 September 2016 By Footymad

The Manchester United striker, still only 18, also scored a dramatic late winner for his club against Hull this season, leaving him ticking along at a goal every 33 minutes in the fledgling campaign.

While it is still early and the sample size is small, he has picked up where he left off in his debut season and outperformed England's established strikers up to now.

Rashford has two substitute appearances for United, with three shots against the Tigers culminating in his crucial injury-time strike.

He needed only four shots to claim the match ball on Tuesday, with Allardyce watching, and has four goals from seven shots in 133 minutes of football since the resumption.

By contrast, Harry Kane has yet to score in four appearances for Tottenham and England, taking eight shots without reward in his 357 minutes on the field.

Kane also started last season slowly - indeed, he remains without a league goal in the month of August in his career - but went on to score 32 in all competitions for club and country, so there is time for him to come good once more.

Jamie Vardy picked up where he left off with a goal in the Community Shield, but had to wait until Leicester's third game against Swansea to open his league account for the season

Having missed a host of chances against Hull in particular, h e has two goals from eight shots in 386 minutes.

Liverpool have taken a cautious approach with Daniel Sturridge in light of his injury history, offering him just 71 minutes of playing time across three Premier League games.

He has yet to score in that competition, or in 15 minutes for England against Slovakia, and has two goals - both in a half-hour EFL Cup cameo against Burton to round off a 5-0 win - from nine shots in 116 minutes.

The role of Wayne Rooney has been much discussed, with the United and England captain deployed in midfield as Allardyce began his reign but playing in a more advanced position with his club

He has played 467 minutes for club and country, firing in 15 shots but scoring only once.

Last season's Premier League statistics show Rashford scoring a goal every 178 minutes, a virtually identical rate to Kane and Vardy if penalties are excluded - though he shot far less frequently, once every 56 minutes (Kane 23, Vardy 31), and scored once every 3.2 shots (Kane 7.7, Vardy 5.7).

Rashford's 892 minutes of action, while more significant than this season's sample size, are still dwarfed by Kane (3,554) and Vardy's (3,343) tallies and - like Sturridge, who played just 1,045 minutes in the league last season and scored every 131 minutes and every six shots - the test now will be to see if he can secure regular playing time and sustain his form