Marcus Rashford's participation in Manchester United's pivotal Premier League showdown with Liverpool remains uncertain. The forward missed out on four consecutive matchday selections by head coach Ruben Amorim but returned to the squad for Monday's defeat to Newcastle, remaining on the bench throughout the match.
Post-game, Amorim disclosed that Rashford has been sidelined with illness this week, saying, "At the moment, he's ill, he's not training so we'll see in the future but he's like a normal player, then I make a selection so it's the same.
"I think he's going to be out this week, he's not training. We'll see but I think this week he's out."
As United attempt to end an abysmal nine-match, nine-year winless streak at Anfield, having first competed there in 1895, their task appears daunting—they've suffered five defeats and drawn four, scoring once and conceding 18 times during this period. In contrast, hosts Liverpool are leading the league charts, with only one loss in 18 games.
Nonetheless, Amorim is optimistic, taking solace from a six-day rest before facing what he considers the season's top team.
"We have more time to train, two days in a row, to train with the team. I think that can help us given the environment, is a difficult moment because we are losing too many matches. We are going to face the best team this year," he said.
"With training, we feel more the team, we prepare more the team and we want to improve the performance compared to the last game.
"In football, one game anything can happen. If you talk about the season then almost every time the best win, in the moment they are better than us but we can win any game.
"We have to focus not on the context but on the performance, what we have to do, simple things. We need to improve the simple things for these kind of games and we have the responsibility to win the game."
"Everything," Amorim replied when asked what United had focused on. "The small things, the transitions, you can see the lack of possession in the last game in the first half. The control of the game, everybody was so anxious, so nervous.
"The crosses is really important, set pieces. It's hard to say one thing, we work on a lot of things. The possession, the way we control the tempo of the game, the understanding where you should play was the main focus this week."
