During Aston Villa’s warm-up there was a rare sighting, seldom seen on a football pitch lately: Marcus Rashford with a beaming smile on his face.

It was two months, 59 days to be exact, of being frozen out at Manchester United in what seemed like at times a campaign to dispense of Rashford. Ruben Amorim consistently brought up Rashford’s demeanour, standards in training and appeared to have no time for sulking.

As Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville pointed out, they were “emphatic clues that they’re moping”, when the former United captain discussed players Amorim had dropped.

Rashford could be forgiven for feeling out of his comfort zone, as this was the first time he has pulled on the shirt for anyone but United in almost a decade as a professional. But he was also back on the turf, the place for peace for all players, and finally playing again.

“I hope Marcus Rashford realises he is in the last-chance saloon, he has the chance to get his career back on track,” said Alan Shearer, the Premier League’s greatest goalscorer, working as a pundit for BBC.

“Start playing football with a smile on his face again. They are very privileged to be paid to play football – he has got to make the most of it. It doesn’t last for long.”

It was an eye-catching quote from Shearer and rang true. This has to work for Rashford. If he has ambitions of getting to Barcelona once they have the financial means to sign players, the Villa loanee needs it to work.

The first signs were positive for Rashford, who had the advantage of coming on just as Morgan Rogers had made it 2-0, with Villa in total control of the FA Cup tie. He made an impact instantly, catching Kevin Danso with a flying arm as he challenged for a high ball.

He also clattered into Archie Gray’s ankle later on but his game was not just about injuring Tottenham centre-backs. There was a nutmeg on Pedro Porro that riled the Spaniard and should have earned a free-kick for his retaliation.

Rashford, 27, flicked through Rogers for another chance as Villa created late openings, then was involved at the death when the ball was rolled across the face of Spurs’ goal and just needed a tap-in. When he raced through, Gray stopped him and it cost him a swollen ankle.

Marco Asensio came on at the same time as Rashford and it was exciting times for the Villa fans. Asensio was full of tricks and looks like he can open up a defence. Rashford can scare full-backs with his pace and most importantly looked to be enjoying himself again.

“We have to build the team again with the circumstances we had,” said Unai Emery, the Villa manager. “In those last 30 minutes we saw their skill and how they helped us and how they will help us in the next months. We are in a new way but we are demanding and we will improve with different tactical issues and how we want to compete in the Premier League for the next months.”

Rashford could now follow in the footsteps of Brian Talbot by winning the FA Cup in consecutive years for different teams, with Villa now in the fifth round. They are also still in the Champions League and Rogers is among the players who believe the new arrivals will help Villa compete on multiple fronts.

“It pushes us along, we want to take what we can from the experienced players in the squad,” he said. “It’s massive to have people like that [Rashford and Asensio] in the building and hopefully we can just push each other.”