When you try to imagine a path to victory for Manchester United on Merseyside, Tyneside or in Istanbul next week the biggest impediment is working out who, exactly, is going to score the goals.
It is a testing week on the road for a side who are without a statement away win under Erik ten Hagbut their task is made more difficult by the form of their forwards and the total absence of goals in this side. United are missing a striker who has no goals in nine Premier League games at the moment but that loss is going to be felt keenly in this side.
Rasmus Hojlund is yet to translate his Champions League form (five goals in four games) to domestic matters but it feels like a matter of time. Yet the Dane limped off against Luton before the international break with a muscle strain and although it is hoped he will be back by the time of the trip to Newcastle a week on Saturday, he isn’t yet training again and looks all but certain to miss the trip to Goodison Park this weekend.
Without Hojlund, Ten Hag is likely to select a front three that have scored a combined three goals in 47 games this season. Or he could bring Antony back for Alejandro Garnacho and change the equation to two goals in 44 games. Either way, it’s going to be a team desperately out of touch in front of goal.
Marcus Rashford’s 30 goals last season are already fading to a distant memory and he has just one for United this season, way back at the start of September at Arsenal. Anthony Martial, who is likely to replace Hojlund, has one in 15 games, although only four have been starts. Going back to the end of last season, Martial has scored three in his last 27 games and the 27-year-old no longer looks up to being even the second-choice striker for Ten Hag.
