Will England teen be Three Lions youngest ever WCQ goalscorer?
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2016 has been quite a year for Marcus Rashford. The 18-year-old started it having never played a minute of senior football, and ended the summer having scored the winner in a Manchester derby, earned a four-year contract at Manchester United, and of course, represented England at Euro 2016.
And the Wythenshawe-born teenager could be set to tick off another incredible achievement against Malta this weekend, simply by finding the net. Do so, and he’ll become England’s youngest ever scorer in a World Cup Qualifier.
There’s plenty of reason to expect he can. After all, he became the youngest scorer in a Manchester derby in the Premier League era back in March, while the fantastic forward also netted on his Three Lions debut against Australia to become the national team’s third most junior goalscorer in history.
Rashford also boasts an impressive goal ratio overall, with 8 strikes in his 16 Premier League outings, and on Saturday he’ll be served by a world-class midfield, and up against one of international football’s leakiest defences.
Malta conceded five at home to Scotland in their last competitive game, and have finished bottom of their qualifying group on each of the last four occasions. In that run, they’ve managed just two wins and three draws from 40 games, suffering a pair of 6-0 defeats along the way.
Meanwhile, England have netted two or more goals in each of their last five competitive games at Wembley, including a 5-0 defeat of San Marino and a 4-0 triumph against Lithuania.
With Rashford having featured in six of England’s last seven games, the 4/11 for him to net anytime looks like easy money.
However, with the United youngster having netted two doubles for his club last season, as well as a hat-trick for England Under-21s against Norway last month, the best value could be on Rashford netting two or more goals at 6/4, while 5/4 says both he and Rooney leave the net rippling.
In the match betting, England are overwhelming favourites at 1/80 for victory, with 25/1 for a draw and 66s for a Maltese win.
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Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
