Rashford still hopeful Man Utd 'can do something special' despite inconsistent start to 2020-21 campaign

Marcus Rashford says he's still hopeful Manchester United "can do something special" in 2020-21 despite their inconsistent start to the campaign.

United supporters have been taken on a rollercoaster ride in the early stages of the new season, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side proving to be one of the most unpredictable teams in European football.

The Red Devils have suffered damaging defeats against Crystal Palace, Tottenham and Arsenal in the Premier League, while also losing three of their six Champions League group stage fixtures.

The Old Trafford outfit ultimately exited the continental competition following a 3-2 loss at RB Leipzig on Tuesday, which put extra pressure on Solskjaer to deliver a positive result in this weekend's derby showdown against Manchester City.

United are currently sitting seventh in the top-flight standings with at least one game in hand on all six teams above them, and a win over their local rivals could put them in a position to mount a realistic title challenge.

Rashford still believes in the squad, and has suggested that picking up major silverware come May remains a realistic goal, as he told MUTV: “I think it’s still, with how the league has been going, way too early to be looking at the table really.

"I don’t even know where we were three games ago compared to where we are now and all it takes is a couple of wins and teams can be up and down.

"We’ll take it one game at a time to try to pick up points and see where we are a bit later on in the season. But I believe in the team, in the manager and the staff, so, hopefully, we can still do something special this season."

However, he also acknowledges the fact that results have fallen short of expectations in recent months, and has urged his team-mates to find a way of digging out wins more often when not playing at their best.

"I would put us up there in the top three or four most dangerous teams in the league. For us, it’s just about finding that consistent level of performance really," Rashford added.

“Sometimes, there have been times we’ve not played well and won games and, if you’re going to do something special in the league this year, we need to do that a lot more. You know you’re not going to play at your best every single game but it doesn’t mean you lose or draw the game. There is always a way to win the game and we have to find that more.

“Listen – we are a young team, we’re fresh, we’re strong and, yeah, there’s no reason… United always finish strongly. I feel that’s one thing Ole brought with him when he came to United, just that understanding, knowing the club, knowing what it is and what it stands for. Never giving up is right at the top of that list and we’ve shown it on countless occasions. We have to continue to do that.”

Asked if he expects Sunday's clash with City to be a cagey affair with a plenty on the line for both teams, Rashford responded: “No, I think we’ll get chances. You know that’s one thing we’ve improved a lot on - we are getting a lot more chances in games compared to a couple of seasons ago.

"I think, as players, we believe that we are going to get an opportunity to score a goal and, in terms of belief, that’s a massive thing.

"So we, as forwards, when the game is tight, we have a lot more confidence now than we did two or three years ago, that we’re going to get an opportunity at goal to score and win the game for the team. So I feel like we have a lot more threats, even from set-pieces, we’re a lot more threatening than we have been in the past. There are a lot more ways we can score goals.

"We’ve got a lot that we can bring to the table, as do they, and it’s going to be an interesting game, definitely a tactical game; and it’s a Manchester derby so anything can happen.

"Hopefully, we’ll get everyone fit. If we do have everyone fit, we have the best chance of winning the game. It’s been a miss not having Edi [Edinson Cavani] and Anto [Anthony Martial] in the team, but hopefully they’ll come back for this game and definitely give us a lot more firepower going forward."