Luke Shaw has denied supporting calls for two of his Manchester United teammates to be omitted from the starting XI. 

Erik ten Hag’s side grabbed a much-needed win against Chelsea in midweek, having made changes to their frontline after a dismal performance against Newcastle last weekend. 

During the coverage, former Red Devil Patrice Evra said on Amazon Prime Sport: ‘I think it will be tough for Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial to come back into the starting eleven.’

However, the England international has moved to distance himself from the comments and responded to a now-deleted post from a United fan account.

Luke Shaw has denied that he believes Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial shouldn’t be in Manchester United’s starting XI

The United defender responded to a club fan account in a now-deleted social media post

Patrice Evra had said that Rashford and Martial would find it ‘tough’ to get back into the first team

Anthony Martial (left) has found starts hard to come by since the arrival of Rasmus Hojlund, while Marcus Rashford (right) has suffered a huge loss of form in this campaign

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‘Come on don’t be silly, obviously not intentional,’ the 28-year-old wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Whatever the explanation, it’s difficult to argue with Evra’s assessment considering the contributions of Rashford and Martial this season. 

Martial has become accustomed to starting games on the bench following the summer arrival of Rasmus Hojlund and will likely soon depart the club, but Rashford’s decline this term has been stark. 

The 26-year-old has managed just two goals in 19 appearances, having notched 30 in the previous campaign. 

Rashford now faces a battle with the inconsistent Antony for a place in Ten Hag’s starting roster with Hojlund, Bruno Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho establishing themselves as fixtures in the squad. 

United welcome a resurgent Bournemouth to Old Trafford on Saturday before a decisive clash against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday.