Arne Slot: Liverpool boss says he will be ‘surprised’ if Marcus Rashford fails to rediscover form at Aston Villa
Updated 18/02/2025 at 14:07 GMT
Marcus Rashford has the chance to relaunch his career at Aston Villa between now and the end of the season. His new side will take on Liverpool next up, and Reds boss Arne Slot believes the England international has the talent to impress under Unai Emery. Villa's clash with Liverpool is live on TNT Sports and discovery+ on Wednesday evening.
Slot says he'd be ‘completely surprised’ if Rashford doesn’t return to form with Villa
Video credit: SNTV
Arne Slot hopes that Marcus Rashford can show how good a player he is during his loan spell at Aston Villa after a tough 12 months with Manchester United.
Slot's Liverpool will face Aston Villa live on TNT Sports and discovery+ on Wednesday, with Rashford set to make his second Premier League appearance for The Villans since arriving from Old Trafford.
The England international completed a loan move in January that will see him stay at Villa Park until the end of the season, having told sports journalist Henry Winter that he was "ready for a new challenge" during an interview in December.
Slot believes that the 27-year-old has the talent to relaunch his career between now and the end of the season.
"The first time I faced him in real life was the USA tour, and I was impressed," Slot told a press conference on Tuesday.
"I was really impressed how fast he is, how he has a nice height and is comfortable with the ball, so I think he is a very good player. I hope for him, that he is going to show that at Villa.
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"Of course, I am not hoping that he will do this tomorrow, but I would be completely surprised if a player of his quality is not going to show it because he is a very good player in my opinion."
Liverpool's 2-2 draw in the final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park and their 2-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday means they are currently seven points clear of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table.
Slot guided Feyenoord through the run-in and to their first Eredivisie title in six years during the 2022/23 campaign, and the Dutchman insists that his side will have to fight until the end in order to win the Premier League.
"It always helps if you have experienced it already, and that is not only for me, that is also for the players," he said.
"But it is difficult to take experiences from that time into this time - different players, different opponents, different league.
"However, it tells you again what I have said so many times - that in the end phase of the season a lot of games are really tight.
"Not only ours. If I look at all the results, even Barcelona yesterday, who I admire a lot and have played really good football this season, in the end they were close to conceding the 1-1.
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"It is the end phase of the season where results like this are quite common, like in our title-winning season with Feyenoord as well.
"It tells you that you have to fight until the end and these games you need to win to achieve something."
There was some bad news for Liverpool fans during Slot's pre-match press conference ahead of the clash with Villa.
He revealed that both Cody Gakpo and Joe Gomez would be unavailable for the match, with the latter likely to be out for several weeks.
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"Both are unavailable for tomorrow," he added. "Cody is the closest to coming back but Joe will take quite some time. He is going to be out for a number of weeks because of a hamstring injury.
"It's a big blow for Joe and for us. He tries to do everything to be with the team. He works really hard to come back and then the first game when he came back, after two or three minutes we saw him making a sprint and now he is out for weeks again.
"So that's always very hard for a player in every part of the season, let alone a part of the season everyone is looking forward to."
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How to watch Aston Villa v Liverpool
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Aston Villa v Liverpool will be live on TNT Sports 2 with coverage from 18:30 UK time on Wednesday, January 19, ahead of kick-off at 19:30.
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