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(Image: GETTY)

The striker missed Manchester United's 1-0 win over Norwich at Carrow Road having started the previous 15 matches.

His absence was made more apparent by the fact that Anthony Martial suffered a hamstring injury in the warm-up, forcing Van Gaal to deploy Wayne Rooney as his only striker.

Rashford scored four goals in his first two senior games for United against FC Midtjylland and Arsenal.

And Van Gaal believed the 18-year-old needed a rest as he was no longer performing at the same level.

"You see in the games, Marcus is not doing the things he did in his first match or second match anymore," the Dutchman said.

"You want to deny that at first and you say it to him but then you see maybe it is tiredness.

"So I hope that these two days give him again the stimulus to be in the line-up in the next game because we have to play West Ham and it’s not an easy game.

"I wouldn’t have rested him for the match [if there wasn’t another one on Tuesday] but now we only have two days’ recuperation and recovery. That is too short for these players."