Anthony Martial hasn’t featured for Manchester United since going off injured in the 1-1 draw to Everton at Old Trafford in October.
The Frenchman was on the bench for the games against Atalanta and Manchester City, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer didn’t use him.
In the Manchester derby, the Norwegian instead opted to turn to Marcus Rashford who had been struggling with illness since the trip to Bergamo.
The Mail report of Rashford coming on instead of Martial or Jesse Lingard was that ‘the decision mystified his team-mates’.
After not being selected in France’s World Cup qualifiers squad by coach Didier Deschamps, Martial has been doing extra training during the international break, despite Solskjaer giving his Manchester United squad a week off, according to the Daily Mail.
Following his goal against Rafael Benitiez’s Toffees, Martial hasn’t been able to kick on this season.
But the 25-year-old will be targeting a recall for United’s trip to Watford, in our first match after the international break.
Good record against the Hornets
Similar to Everton, the former Monaco man has a favourable record against Watford during his time at Old Trafford.
Since joining the Reds in 2015, the only side that Martial has won more times against than Watford is Everton.
In nine games against the Hornets, the French international has won seven times, whereas against Everton he was won eight times in 13 games.
Martial will be hoping to match his eight Everton wins versus Watford with a win at Vicarage Road on Saturday, 20th November.
In the nine games that United’s number nine has faced the Hertfordshire side, Martial has scored four times. He has only scored more goals in his career against Southampton (5), West Ham (6) and Everton (7), according to Transfermarkt.
After Solskjaer sprung a surprise and brought Martial in against Everton. maybe he could do something similar against the newly-promoted side.
Martial is yet to start a Manchester United game alongside Cristiano Ronaldo or Jadon Sancho, but maybe that could be our forward trio against Watford, with possibly even Jesse Lingard in the attacking midfielder role.
Apart from Ronaldo, the other three haven’t been called-up for international duty, so they will be fresh going into a hectic schedule that will see us play nine times in the space of 29 days.
Solskjaer is going to have no choice but to rotate his squad during the run up to the festive period.
There will be chances for Martial to impress and after taking his goal well against Everton, he could be given another surprise recall for the trip to Watford.
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