Rashford refuses to talk title race after Man Utd close on top spot

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Marcus Rashford insists Man Utd are staying grounded after his dramatic late winner against Wolves sent them within two points of Liverpool.

Marcus Rashford insists Manchester United "cannot look too far ahead" after his last-gasp strike snatched a 1-0 win against Wolves to close the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool to two points.

Rashford conjured up something out of nothing three minutes into stoppage time at Old Trafford, latching onto a brilliant Bruno Fernandes pass and lashing a left-footed drive off the body of Romain Saiss and past Rui Patricio in the Wolves goal.

The Red Devils had dominated possession and created the best chances but United seemed destined to be consigned to back-to-back draws.

But Rashford's moment of brilliance, after turning Wolves wing-back Rayan Ait-Nouri inside and out, kept United in touching distance of the summit.

However, the England international striker refused to entertain talk about a title challenge and said it would be "stupid" to focus on the table after only 15 matches.

"I think for us we cannot look too far ahead," Rashford told Amazon Prime.

"We're a team that's still doing a lot of work on ourselves and to be looking at the table so early in the season is a bit stupid of us.

"We have to take it one game at a time and if we can keep finding ways to win like this we'll see where we are at the end of the season."

The late strike was Rashford's seventh in 15 Premier League matches this season, after he netted 17 times in 31 top-flight outings in 2019-20.

The 23-year-old revealed the match-winning moment came after he noticed Wolves' left-sided defender Ait-Nouri struggling with cramp and decided to target the stricken Frenchman.

He said: "The full-back, I think he got cramp a few minutes before so I just had in my head that the next time I get the ball I'm going to try and go at him and make him chop and turn and just see if I can make something happen, and thankfully in the end we got a deflection and it went in.

"We're obviously a little bit disappointed we didn't play as well as we wanted to or we could have, but at the end of the day it's three points and no matter how scrappy or how tough they are we'll take them."

Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer revealed he has encouraged his players to remain focused late in games due to United's historic penchant for scoring crucial goals in the closing stages.

"It's one of the points we brought up in a meeting early on in the season that last season we didn't win many points at the end of games," Solskjaer said.

"We've got a tradition for it at this club. It's happened so many times at that end. Now we've won quite a few points at the end of games and that's both a mental aspect but also a physical aspect.

"We've got a group now that's more robust mentally and physically. They're getting fitter and fitter, and the fitter they are the more they can do.

"Mentally as well, it gives you a mental boost knowing that you do win games towards the end.

"We've got to a decent position at the moment but it's not even halfway. We didn't perform as well as we want to, but we won a game against a very difficult opponent.

"This is a big step forward, that you don't perform but you still win."

Rashford refuses to talk title race after Man Utd close on top spot

Marcus Rashford insists Man Utd are staying grounded after his dramatic late winner against Wolves sent them within two points of Liverpool.

Marcus Rashford insists Manchester United "cannot look too far ahead" after his last-gasp strike snatched a 1-0 win against Wolves to close the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool to two points.

Rashford conjured up something out of nothing three minutes into stoppage time at Old Trafford, latching onto a brilliant Bruno Fernandes pass and lashing a left-footed drive off the body of Romain Saiss and past Rui Patricio in the Wolves goal.

The Red Devils had dominated possession and created the best chances but United seemed destined to be consigned to back-to-back draws.

But Rashford's moment of brilliance, after turning Wolves wing-back Rayan Ait-Nouri inside and out, kept United in touching distance of the summit.

However, the England international striker refused to entertain talk about a title challenge and said it would be "stupid" to focus on the table after only 15 matches.

"I think for us we cannot look too far ahead," Rashford told Amazon Prime.

"We're a team that's still doing a lot of work on ourselves and to be looking at the table so early in the season is a bit stupid of us.

"We have to take it one game at a time and if we can keep finding ways to win like this we'll see where we are at the end of the season."

The late strike was Rashford's seventh in 15 Premier League matches this season, after he netted 17 times in 31 top-flight outings in 2019-20.

The 23-year-old revealed the match-winning moment came after he noticed Wolves' left-sided defender Ait-Nouri struggling with cramp and decided to target the stricken Frenchman.

He said: "The full-back, I think he got cramp a few minutes before so I just had in my head that the next time I get the ball I'm going to try and go at him and make him chop and turn and just see if I can make something happen, and thankfully in the end we got a deflection and it went in.

"We're obviously a little bit disappointed we didn't play as well as we wanted to or we could have, but at the end of the day it's three points and no matter how scrappy or how tough they are we'll take them."

Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer revealed he has encouraged his players to remain focused late in games due to United's historic penchant for scoring crucial goals in the closing stages.

"It's one of the points we brought up in a meeting early on in the season that last season we didn't win many points at the end of games," Solskjaer said.

"We've got a tradition for it at this club. It's happened so many times at that end. Now we've won quite a few points at the end of games and that's both a mental aspect but also a physical aspect.

"We've got a group now that's more robust mentally and physically. They're getting fitter and fitter, and the fitter they are the more they can do.

"Mentally as well, it gives you a mental boost knowing that you do win games towards the end.

"We've got to a decent position at the moment but it's not even halfway. We didn't perform as well as we want to, but we won a game against a very difficult opponent.

"This is a big step forward, that you don't perform but you still win."

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