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Martial made the vital breakthrough to break a deadlock which left those watching dumbstruck with the negativity of Jose Mourinho’s men.
But the Red die-hards won’t be bothered after making the icy trip to snow-clad Burnley.
That’s another three valuable league points, 14 clean sheets for keeper David de Gea and an eight-game unbeaten run to keep pushing neighbours City all the way.
Oh, and £35million striker Alexis Sanchez is on the way – much to the relief of Mourinho.
The United boss looked the happiest he has been for a while as he breathed a huge sigh of relief that he could leave Turf Moor with the victor’s spoils. Mourinho said: “I’m pleased. It’s a different kind of performance you try to have but it was the performance needed to get a result against a brave team like Burnley.
“We know the way Burnley play. They are better playing that way than any other.
“You have to adapt but we should have scored a second goal to kill it off. We didn’t but we controlled the game.”
Manchester United player ratings v Burnley
Manchester United FC
Burnley boss Sean Dyche recorded his 100th game as a Premier League manager and he remained in an upbeat mood even though his team are winless in the last seven games.
Dyche said: “I thought the performance was very good.
“You are playing against one of the best teams in the division and I thought we at least matched them.
“Yes, I’m very pleased with the boys today.”
United emerged through the mist in grey shirts to match their opening performance.
Dull, drab and totally unconvincing against a Burnley side hell-bent on getting right into their faces.
Lacklustre seemed to be the name of the game for Mourinho’s men with no sense of purpose in attempting to break down the Burnley rearguard in early stages of mediocrity.
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You prayed they would take their woolly gloves off and take the fight to the Turf Moor marauders – but instead it was Burnley who held the early initiative and James Tarkowski spelled danger in the opening minutes.
Johann Berg Gudmundsson flighted in the perfect free-kick for the defender, who directed his header wide of the target in front of worried travelling supporters.
We waited for 13 minutes before United clicked into first gear with Ashley Young delivering a clever ball into the box for Paul Pogba to steer just over.
Three minutes from the interval, United woke up again when Young tricked his way through the Burnley back line and curled his shot just wide of the upright.
And on the stroke of half-time Martial’s neat foot work took him into the danger zone but he, too, missed the target.
No wonder Mourinho had a face like thunder as he trooped across the pitch, heading for a showdown in the dressing room with his under-performers.
As he left the scene, a local tenor belted out a version of Nessun Dorma on the side of the pitch. Now that’s what you call entertainment.
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Whatever Mourinho muttered it did the trick, with United going ahead nine minutes after the restart after Romelu Lukaku at last showed he was up for the battle.
Lukaku muscled his way through three Burnley men and brilliantly picked out Martial, who hammered in off the underside of the bar.
Gudmundsson thought he had equalised three minutes later when his brilliantly executed free-kick spun off the woodwork and away instead of nestling in the net.
And the Iceland star’s header clattered into Chris Smalling with the Claret side of Turf Moor screaming at referee Mike Dean to award a penalty for handball. At last, game on.
Not that United could relax. Burnley were soon back down their throats with anxious times all around for the men in grey with the camera catching former boss Sir Alex Ferguson checking his mobile phone in the stand, no doubt gauging the state of Fergie time as Burnley thundered back into the game.
Tarkowski was inches away from sliding in a Gudmundsson cross to show the home side weren’t dead and buried.
Pogba tried to make sure they were with a continued series of darting runs and nifty footwork which lifted him head and shoulders above all his team-mates on a grey old day – apart from the result.