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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer provides fresh update on Marcus Rashford’s injury

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has provided a fresh update on Marcus Rashford’s injury ahead of the club’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Derby County on the road.

Rashford picked up a stress fracture in his back during the FA Cup third round replay against Wolverhampton Wanderers in January and he has since missed six Premier League games on the bounce. United’s injuries have boosted the argument for a mid-season break but United will need more than some rest to turn things around.

Speaking prior to the Derby game, Solskjaer indicated that Rashford won’t return to first-team training in the near future but he remains hopeful that the forward will make his comeback before the end of the season.

“As [with] any player, he wants to be fit as quickly as possible and play as soon as possible. If that means playing in April, if he’ll be fit for us towards the end of the season, fantastic,” he told MUTV.

“If it takes longer, it takes longer. We just have to be sensible with it because we’re going to have Marcus playing here for many, many years.”

Rashford was in superb form for United before he picked up the back injury and he contributed 19 goals and five assists from just 31 appearances in all competitions.

In his initial absence, Anthony Martial happened to struggle in front of goal with the lack of service but the Frenchman has since impressed with three goals from the previous four appearances.

Meanwhile, January signing Bruno Fernandes has made a lively start to his United career and he has improved the quality of the club’s distribution in the final third of the pitch.

He has bagged three goals and two assists from just five starts and was recently named the club’s February Player of the Month.

The 25-year-old could be restricted to a bench role on Thursday with Solskjaer likely to make a few changes to the starting lineup ahead of the weekend’s Manchester derby.