Luke Shaw and Anthony Martial were Manchester United’s two best outfield players in the win over City.
Shaw scored United’s second goal while Martial won the penalty for the team’s early opener.
Both players were questionable to start the game, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer revealed after the match, in comments via the club website.
Solskjaer said he was relieved each of Shaw and Martial came through the warm-up without a hitch.
The United manager said: “What a performance by the whole team, but especially the two of them when you think they had to do the warm-up before they could say to me they were alright to go.
“I am very happy with them and it just shows that we are getting more and more robust, more resilient to little things that maybe before that been ‘oh no I can’t’.
“We needed them, the team needed them and they knew. I am delighted with the attitude because in games like this you don’t belong to yourself anymore, you belong to Man United. You go out there and do your best for Man United.”
Stepping up
It would have been a big surprise if Luke Shaw had not been passed fit because there was no hint of a problem before the game.
Despite struggling with injuries during his time at United, he has been fully healthy since a short lay-off in early November.
Fortunately United have a very competent replacement in Alex Telles to step in if needed, and the Brazilian may be a starter on Thursday against AC Milan.
Anthony Martial would probably have been on the bench against City if Edinson Cavani had been fit, having just come back from a problem himself which caused him to miss the Palace fixture.
Cavani pulled out of this game after an injury setback in Saturday’s training session and Martial had to be bumped up to a starter, a little ahead of schedule.
It says a lot about both players that they delivered outstanding performances, and Solskjaer’s comments show how thrilled he was with the pair of them.
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