Marcus Rashford made another impact in an Aston Villa shirt on Friday night as he delivered an assist for Marco Asensio's opening goal in the eventually comfortable 2-0 win over Cardiff City in the last 16 of the FA Cup at Villa Park.
Rashford has caught the eye during the opening weeks of his Villa spell; while he awaits his first goal in Villa colours, he was electric when inspiring their comeback in the recent victory over Chelsea, on an evening when he set up both goals from fellow January arrival Asensio in the second half.
While three assists in six appearances so far is a fair return for a player who is still getting back up to speed having encountered a difficult few months at Manchester United prior to his move to Villa, the bare numbers produced by Rashford have been defining and point to a prosperous period in the weeks to come.
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For many, the manner of Rashford's departure from Old Trafford will be regrettable; in 2022/23, Rashford scored 30 goals and produced nine assists in all competitions for the Red Devils and received a lucrative and lengthy contract on the back of that return, but Rashford has been frozen out by new manager Ruben Amorim and would appear to have no future.
Rashford's disillusionment at United could prove to be Villa's gain; two separate statistics have emerged since Rashford's Villa debut against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup on the 9th of February - one being that no other Premier League has created more goalscoring opportunities than his 13 in that period.
Specifically in the cup tie with Cardiff, Rashford created six chances over the course of the evening - that number in a single match equalled the highest number of chances he produced at any point in his 426 appearances for United (that game was also in the FA Cup against Wigan a year ago).
Unai Emery is clearly helping Rashford to rediscover his very best attacking and creative form in a Villa shirt and is, on a weekly basis, rather making a mockery of United's and Amorim's decision to ease him out of the first-team environment and, ultimately, out of the club - not that Villa will be complaining having taken advantage of the situation.
