Manchester United have found a winning formula. Forward duo Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford are both in the team, scoring regularly and keeping United in the push for Champions League places — as evidenced by them both hitting the scoresheet once more in the 2-0 win over Crystal Palace.
But which of the two is enjoying the best season so far? They are identical in terms of their scoring: 17 league goals apiece and 22 each in all competitions. But there’s more to both of them than just putting the ball in the net.
With that in mind, here’s a more detailed look at how each is faring, and a consideration of whether Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has them the right way round, too: Martial as the No. 9 and Rashford wide left, rather than the other way around.
Build-up and creativity
We’ll get to the goals. But United are spreading them around right now, with Bruno Fernandes, Mason Greenwood and Paul Pogba all contributing, which means the other duo are involved in plenty of build-up play.
In actual assists, Rashford leads the way seven to five, and he edges Martial in key passes per 90 minutes, too: 1.2 to 1.0 (as per WhoScored).
But the quality of those key passes matters: are they setting up great scoring chances, or have they benefited from team-mates having above-average finishing? Martial’s expected assists puts him essentially right on the money, with an xA of 4.5, but Rashford’s is 5.4 — he has actually assisted more goals than might be considered normal, given the shots at the end of his passes.
Impressively, both players have an xGChain of 0.72, second and third in the squad behind only Pogba (0.73), as per understat.
This is a measure of all their contributions to each passing move through a game, and shows they are consistently involved in build-up play of good quality, important moments which lead to chances on goal for United.
Elsewhere, Rashford is the more frequent dribbler and sees more of the ball — a natural consequence of playing in more space on the flank and slightly deeper areas — but Martial is the more consistently accurate passer of the two.
They are, however, very well-matched across the board.
Goalscoring
Level on numbers, what about the finishing level? There’s a big discrepancy here and it hints at which way the friendly rivalry between the two could pan out.
Simply put, there should be a big gap between the two — Rashford should be several goals ahead, based on the chances they’ve both had. The England international is underperforming his expected goals by a little over two, whereas Martial is significantly overperforming, with an xG of 13 in the Premier League.
There are, generally, two conclusions: he has been fortunate, or his finishing has been exemplary. On the evidence of the past few weeks, with his goals against Bournemouth and Southampton in particular, it’s the latter. Martial is taking on shots which most forwards would find unlikely to result in goals, but is absolutely burying them.
That could revert toward the norm somewhat, but while his confidence is up, he’s in great form and showing consistency, there’s no reason to suspect it will dip massively. This isn’t just outperforming his xG over the past few games, it’s across the entire season, with those recent goals a part of the overall.
No. 9: Right call
There are some who suggest Greenwood may be the longer-term No. 9 for United, thanks to his power, two-footedness, ability to score from anywhere and probably the fact that centre-forward is the most glamorous position and people want the brightest lights shining on the exciting new player.
Right now, though, he’s a distance off, as his performance against Palace showed: he’s a young man still making his way, still with plenty to learn and consistency in his game to find.
It’s Martial who has discovered that over the course of this season and this, plus his clearly improved physique, stamina and finishing skills, which make him the right call as No. 9 - even over Rashford.
