Unai Emery said Marcus Rashford‘s performance off the bench in Aston Villa‘s 2-1 win over Chelsea on Saturday was “fantastic” and reiterated the need for the club to “support” their on-loan forward so that he can return to his eye-catching best.
Rashford joined Villa on loan from Manchester United until the end of the season on Feb. 2 after being frozen out of Ruben Amorim’s side and has made three appearances for his new club as he rebuilds his fitness and confidence.
The 27-year-old replaced Jacob Ramsey at half-time of Saturday’s match with Villa trailing the west London club after Enzo Fernández prodded in Pedro Neto‘s low cross. But Rashford’s introduction inspired the hosts to a comeback win as he registered assists for both of fellow new recruit Marco Asensio‘s second-half goals.
Asked how he has approached coaching Rashford since his arrival at the club, Villa boss Unai Emery told Sky Sports: “Support him. Help him. Try to [make him] feel comfortable here. Try to get confidence with us. Try to work … Try to use the skills in our tactical idea. Try as well to be demanding with him in our demands as well tactically and everything. And he’s in this process.
“Of course he played a fantastic 45 minutes. And really this is the only thing. We want to try to be consistent through him, in our squad and in our way we are going to do [that]. But he’s going to be hopefully very, very important like today. But hopefully more and more and more. And the most important for him is try to feel comfortable here. Try to get confidence. Be here in good atmosphere with us and this is my objective.”
Sources have told ESPN the deal that has seen Rashford join Villa on loan until the end of the campaign includes an option to make the transfer permanent.
Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans said the team has benefitted from Rashford’s arrival in the Midlands.
“Listen, Marcus is someone, he can threaten anyone one [versus] one, even one [versus] two, he’s very important for us in the way that he plays, because he gives us something on that left-hand side,” Tielemans said. “Today, every time he got the ball he was dangerous.”
The victory buoyed Villa’s hopes of a Champions League berth next season as Emery’s men climbed to seventh in the table on 42 points, one behind Chelsea who fell to sixth.
Information from Reuters and ESPN’s Rob Dawson contributed to this report
