Hexa Article
Manchester United 3-0 Sheffield United: Anthony Martial grabs first career hat-trick
Report and free highlights as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side continue march towards Champions League places
Anthony Martial produced his standout performance in a Manchester United shirt as he bagged a hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Sheffield United.
The French striker has had his critics at Old Trafford but gave a lacklustre Blades outfit the run-around, opening the scoring with a close-range finish from a Marcus Rashford cross (7).
Chris Wilder's men did not heed that warning as they allowed another cross from the right flank from Aaron Wan-Bissaka to be clinically finished by Martial (44). He completed his hat-trick by finishing off a flowing move (74) that involved both Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba, who were starting together for the first time for Manchester United.
The result stretches Ole Gunnar Solskjaer side's unbeaten run to 13 games across all competitions - a period where they've scored 33 goals and conceded just three. It also moves them back to within two points of Chelsea in fourth - Frank Lampard's side play Manchester City on Thursday.
Sheffield United's season seems to be ending with a whimper having taken just one point from three games since the restart without scoring.
How Martial lit up eerie Old Trafford
Wilder has built his success at Sheffield United around making his team incredibly hard to beat but with two of his first-choice back three unavailable, they looked brittle through the middle. It took the hosts just seven minutes to break the deadlock.
The Blades still had plenty of defensive reinforcements in the box but Martial reacted quicker than Chris Basham to Rashford's ball in and flashed a first-time finish past Simon Moore.
Oliver Norwood was brushed aside far too easily by Rashford down the right before the striker skipped past Phil Jagielka, who became the oldest outfield player to play at Old Trafford since Gary Alexander for Burnley in Jan 2010 and looked every inch of his 37 years.