Who Is The Quickest Red?

Manchester United's wide players are the ones often charged with the responsibility of injecting pace into the team's play. 

With more space usually available on the flanks, the wingers look to break down opposing defences with their speed and creativity. Thanks to Opta's analysis, we can access data on who is clocking the fastest times in each Premier League game and it makes for interesting reading.

Up until the New Year's Eve win over Middlesbrough, the man leading the way in this regard was Jesse Lingard during his impressive display at West Brom, presumably for his sprint down the right to set up Zlatan Ibrahimovic's early opening goal. 

However, Marcus Rashford became the first Red to break the 35 km/h mark this term against Boro with a speed only bettered by Anthony Martial over the past three seasons. Martial is one of nine players to come out on top in an individual league game this term, with others such as Eric Bailly, Matteo Darmian, Ander Herrera and Luke Shaw also earning top spot in one fixture apiece.

It is the wider players - Antonio Valencia, Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan - who feature more prominently but by far the most common speed king has been Rashford. The exciting teenager has achieved the leading figure on nine occasions, including last time out in the Premier League at Stoke City.

When we put it to Marcus that the statistics show he is using his pace to good effect, he replied: "Yeah, it’s about almost singling out each player and each opponent you come up against so you know you can get a one against one. That’s when you know it’s a time when it is a good asset for me to use."

MUTV also asked Martial who was the quickest player at the club in an upcoming documentary on the France international. His reply? "I think it's Marcus. I think I'm more powerful than him but he's more lively and quick, more agile. So I think it's Marcus."

The facts certainly seem to bear that out and it would take a brave man to bet against Rashford keeping top spot for the season to follow in the footsteps of Martial in 2015/16 and Wayne Rooney in 2014/15.