Martial: Hard work is paying off for Manchester United

Manchester United forward Anthony Martial insists confidence is growing for both him and the team as they look to discover top gear.

Coming into this weekend, the Reds had lost just once in eight games in all competitions – although three of those were Premier League draws, meaning they lost ground on their rivals.

Manager Jose Mourinho has also been among the headlines for the wrong reasons, receiving a one-match touchline ban after being sent off against West Ham.

(Photo by John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images)

However the Red Devils looked to have put that behind them on Wednesday as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Martial both scored twice to dispatch the Hammers 4-1 to set up an EFL Cup semi-final with Hull City.

And Martial, who scored his third and fourth goals of the season in midweek, admitted it was good to talk about steps forward, rather than the team’s recent frustrations at not getting the result they wanted.

“Firstly, it felt great to score in the week as I’ve not played that regularly of late,” he said.

“It was good to get those two goals as it’s a real confidence boost.

“We’ve had a lot of draws recently and have come up against goalkeepers in amazing form.

“But we’ve worked really hard to improve our efficiency and effectiveness in front of goal and hopefully that will pay off.”