After scoring a brace against Newcastle in midweek, the Frenchman entered the game against Burnley with his confidence and swagger restored. Anthony Martial also had a fantastic record against Burnley at Turf Moor; he had scored in every appearance for Manchester United against the Clarets away from home.
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The fact that the Frenchman had already scored nine goals so far for the Red Devils this season also gave the home side more reason to pay close attention to him.
Martial started the game with the same attitude and work ethic that were so effective against the Magpies. The Frenchman was lively and closed down the opposition very well. He even dropped down to get involved in the build-up play, but most of his good work was done near the box.
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It was here that Martial took up little pockets of space and conjured magic to keep the opposing defense on their toes. He combined very well with Brandon Williams as well as Marcus Rashford, and Phil Bardsley had to make a goal-line clearance to stop the Frenchman from scoring in the 34th minute.
Just when it looked like the game would go into the break with the scores level, the Frenchman struck gold. Martial was sent free by Pereira after some impressive pressing by the Brazilian down the right. The Frenchman had the composure to take a touch and then slot the ball home past the onrushing Nick Pope.
Martial did also have a glorious opportunity to score his second after the break, but failed to find the back of the net.
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Deepungsu Pandit
Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written over 8500 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.
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