Marcus Rashford enjoying huge popularity surge but are Dream Team gaffers jumping the gun?

DREAM TEAM managers have wasted no time in jumping aboard the Ruben Amorim train.

Marcus Rashford (£3.4m) is currently the most transferred-in player ahead of Gameweek 14 after Manchester United’s emphatic win over Everton at the weekend.

The former Sporting CP gaffer oversaw an unconvincing 1-1 draw with Ipswich in his first game as the Red Devils’ head coach but has since watched his side beat Bodo/Glimt and the Toffees at Old Trafford.

The hosts were helped out by some catastrophic defending from Sean Dyche’s beleaguered troops but Bruno Fernandes (£6.2m), Joshua Zirkzee (£2.3m), Amad Diallo (£3.5m) and Rashford did look incisive in attack.

Whether the latter deserves such a pronounced popularity spike is up for debate.

Man United’s No10 bagged a brace on Sunday for a return of 16 points, which is enough to make him Gameweek 13’s top-performing forward at this stage.

But Rashford and company face a sterner test this evening when they meet Arsenal at the Emirates.

The Gunners are the first of four domestic opponents currently in the top seven of the Premier League table, with Nottingham Forest, Manchester City and Tottenham to come before the end of Gameweek 15.

Man United are also due to play Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League in that time, which is a more favourable match-up on paper, but Rashford’s minutes are far from guaranteed on Thursday nights.

The 27-year-old played just 31 minutes in Europe last time out for a return of just one point.

It was Rasmus Hojlund (£4.1m) who cashed in that night with an assist and two goals as part of a 21-point haul.

Amorim has given several forwards a fair chance to impress so far and all have stepped up to some degree.

Zirkzee also banked 16 points against Everton and is therefore level with Rashford as the top striker for this Gameweek.

Dream Team bosses will get another indication of Amorim’s pecking order when they see Man United’s starting line-up tonight.

Rashford has scored three goals in two starts under his new gaffer and will surely get plenty of minutes across the busy festive period but the risk of rotation combined with some tricky fixtures limits his viability.

A double header against Bournemouth and Wolves in Gameweek 16 provides some respite but Man United then face Newcastle, Liverpool and Arsenal (FA Cup) in their next three – it doesn’t exactly scream points.

Of course, the outlook will change if Rashford and friends produce something special against Arsenal.

Amorim may well be the real deal but it seems a few too many Dream Team managers have overreacted to wins over the Norwegian champions (whose entire wage bill costs less than 10% of Antony’s transfer fee) and an Everton side that haven’t scored a goal since October 26th.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk