MANCHESTER, England — Marcus Rashford maintained his remarkable run of goal-scoring form as Manchester United cruised past Leicester City with a 3-0 win at Old Trafford in the Premier League.

Rashford scored twice to make it 16 goals in 17 games since the World Cup, before Jadon Sancho came off the bench to score a third.

United needed David de Gea to make impressive saves from Harvey Barnes and Kelechi Iheanacho with the game goalless, but Erik ten Hag’s team were comfortable as soon as Rashford got his first midway through the first half as they moved to within five points of leaders Arsenal.

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Rapid reaction

1. Man United riding a wave of optimism

The games are coming thick and fast, and there are injuries to key players, but United have built up momentum at a crucial stage of the season. They had to weather a Leicester storm for 20 minutes — mostly thanks to De Gea — but in the end it was so comfortable that Ten Hag was able to substitute Rashford and Luke Shaw early as he turned his attention to Barcelona‘s visit to Old Trafford on Thursday.

The week will start with United just five points behind Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table, and it could end with Europa League progress (at Barca’s expense) and a trophy if they can beat Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley on Sunday. On top of all that, it looks like the Glazer family’s ownership, hated by many supporters for nearly 20 years, is coming to an end.

The misery of those opening two defeats to Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford seems a long way in the past now. There were moments of hope under David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but there has never been more optimism at United in the decade since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.

2. Rashford an early contender for PFA Player of the Year

It says everything about Rashford’s sky-high confidence that when he was sent through by Bruno Fernandes with a chance to give United the lead, he took the responsibility to score himself. The Rashford of last season would have probably squared the ball for Alejandro Garnacho to score a tap-in, but that doesn’t cross a striker’s mind when he’s in the form of his life.

Rashford now has 16 goals in 17 games since the World Cup and 24 for the season. It’s already his best single-season tally, and it’s only February. With United still in four competitions, he could easily reach 40 before the end of the campaign. It’s a remarkable turnaround after scoring just five times in all competitions last season.

Ten Hag deserves a lot of credit, but so does Rashford for bouncing back so emphatically. If his form continues, he’ll put himself in contention for the top individual honours.

The PFA Players’ Player of the Year award has been dominated by Manchester City and Liverpool for the past five years, and Rashford would be United’s first winner since Wayne Rooney in 2010.

3. Leicester made to pay for early missed chances

Before Rashford’s intervention, Leicester were well on top and on a different day could have been 3-0 up inside 20 minutes. United had De Gea to thank for two top-quality saves — the first as he rushed out to deny Harvey Barnes and then another from a Kelechi Iheanacho header that was sneaking inside the post — while Iheanacho had another good chance snuffed out by Victor Lindelof when he should have at least hit the target.

Goals haven’t been a problem for Leicester after scoring eight in their previous two league games against Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur, but they were made to pay for not finding the net early on at Old Trafford. If any of those chances had gone in, it would have been a different game against a United team who started like they were suffering a post-Barcelona hangover.

Rashford’s first goal came out of nothing after a mistake from Wout Faes, and then two quick goals after half-time ended the contest. Brendan Rodgers will feel that Marcel Sabitzer was lucky to stay on the pitch following a nasty-looking challenge at 1-0, but Leicester only have themselves to blame for not getting a result.

Best and worst performers

BEST

Marcus Rashford: The in-form forward had three chances and scored with two to make it a comfortable afternoon for United.

David de Gea: Made an incredible early save with the game at 0-0 when he came rushing out to deny Harvey Barnes and has now equalled Peter Schmeichel’s club record of 180 clean sheets.

Bruno Fernandes: Playing on the right of the front three rather than as the No. 10, he had two assists.

WORST

Wout Faes: Leicester were on top before he slung an aimless pass into midfield which led to United’s first goal.

Danny Ward: The Leicester goalkeeper’s positioning was awful as Rashford raced through for his first, giving the England forward almost the entire goal to aim at.

Alejandro Garnacho: He had a quiet game on the left of United’s front three and was substituted at half-time.

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Highlights and notable moments

Rashford is in such a rich vein of form that there is just an air of inevitability of the outcome when Fernandes sets him free with passes like this …

Is anyone in the world in better form than Marcus Rashford? 🫡

📺: @USANetwork#MyPLMorning | #MUNLEI pic.twitter.com/4AEEtTxNss

— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) February 19, 2023

After the match: What managers, players said

Erik ten Hag on United’ overall performance: “I was really unhappy with our performance. We have to follow the rules and principles of our way of playing. When we don’t, it is a mess. When we face a good opponent like Leicester they have chances and it’s only down to David de Gea that we don’t concede a goal. We were really lucky at half-time that we were one goal up. It was a great goal but the rest, it is rubbish.”

Brendan Rodgers on Sabitzer’s challenge on Faes: “It’s a sending off, a straight leg onto the knee. How it was not looked at and deemed that is incredible. The last few weeks some of the decisions we have seen. Someone has said it was after an incident but I don’t buy that. He has straight legged him right on his knee.”

Key stats

De Gea registered his 180th clean sheet for Manchester United, equalling Peter Schmeichel’s club record for a goalkeeper.

Rashord equalled Wayne Rooney’s best run of eight consecutive games with a goal at Old Trafford. Cristiano Ronaldo had 10 straight scoring games at home as a Manchester United player spanning two seasons (2007-08 and 2008-09).

Up next

Manchester United: After their thrilling 2-2 draw at Camp Nou last week, United host Barcelona for the second leg of their Europa League playoff on Thursday. Then they take on Newcastle United in the first major final of the season, the Carabao Cup final at Wembley on Sunday (stream LIVE at 11:25 a.m. ET in the U.S.).

Leicester City: The Foxes play the teams at either end of the table in their next two league games, with Arsenal coming to the King Power Stadium on Saturday and a trip to Southampton on March 4. In between, they host Blackburn Rovers in the fifth round of the FA cup on Feb. 28 (stream LIVE at 2:25 p.m. ET on ESPN+ in the U.S.).