Boss: Rashford is currently undroppable

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal believes it is impossible to leave striker Marcus Rashford out of the starting line-up, following the teenager's winner against Aston Villa.

Rashford fired in the only goal for the Reds as they secured a vital 1-0 victory on Saturday afternoon, and his manager believes that it is crucial the team benefit from his current run of good form.

Speaking to the press following the match, van Gaal relayed his admiration of the young forward, who was determined to play despite his exertions in midweek at West Ham United.

“Yes I wanted to change him," said the boss. "I had doubted for a long time. He is also young and he has played the last how many [12] matches but, yeah, at the end I don’t want to do that. I want to take profit of his momentum, and he was very positive. I thought I can change him before the end and the last 15 minutes is always very important for players. So I changed him for that.”

The match saw Wayne Rooney start alongside Rashford for the first time in a competitive fixture, and van Gaal was encouraged by the performance of the skipper.

“He [Rooney] has never played 90 minutes in the last two and a half months. I think he was very good in the first half, and I think the goal was also his goal. I think it is a good spirit when you want to play 90 minutes in spite of the fact that you cannot build up your capacity in three days of training sessions. I’m very positive about his first half.”

Van Gaal made five changes to the side ahead of the game, including introducing Memphis Depay to the line-up in place of Anthony Martial, but Chris Smalling and Daley Blind continue to form the central defensive partnership.

"Memphis had a lot of good creative moments and he could have scored," said van Gaal. "His fellow players could have scored out of his assist, and you also need a little bit of luck. Of course [Martial was rested] as he is young and has played many, many matches. Smalling and Blind have played all the matches, more or less, but I cannot change them at the moment so they have to play."