Arsenal legend Paul Merson has advised Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to start Marcus Rashford on the bench for Manchester United's crunch clash against the Gunners on Sunday.
Rashford plundered a 16-minute hat-trick as a substitute in midweek as he put RB Leipzig to the sword in the Champions League.
The 23-year-old started the last Premier League game against Chelsea but failed to find the net, and Merson believes reverting to a substitute role will get the best out of the England striker.
He wrote in the Daily Star: "When he [Rashford] starts, he doesn’t really score bundles of goals and often finds it difficult.
"But he came on this week against Leipzig and scored a hat-trick in 16 minutes! If you look at when he scores his goals this season, they tell you a story.
"He scored as a sub against Luton in the 88th minute in the EFL Cup. He scored in the second half against Brighton.
"He scored in the last minute against Newcastle. He scored with three minutes to go against Paris St-Germain and all his goals against Leipzig were at the end of the game. His goals are coming against tired defenders.
"Maybe United should experiment with that.
" Arsenal is going to be a tight game. If it’s 0-0 after 60 minutes and Rashford comes on just when defenders are getting tired, he could have a field day.
"Don’t get me wrong. Marcus Rashford is too good to spend his whole career as a supersub. He’s an England international.
"But I think he needs a rest and playing a few games off the bench might actually do him some good in the long run."
Both sides go into the game off the back of wins in Europe, but United fired a blank in a goalless draw against Chelsea in their last top-flight outing while Arsenal were beaten by Leicester.
