With all the grief the strikers have been given at Manchester United, Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney, the one who has faced the brunt of that criticism, scored to ease the pressure on Louis Van Gaal and lead the Red Devils to their first win in nine matches.

Martial and Rooney's goals gave Manchester United a vital 2-1 victory over Swansea City, who could not pull off a fifth win in five matches against their opponents.

After a frustrating first half, where Manchester United failed to find the target, Martial opened the scoring in the 47th minute, burying a header into the corner off a cross from Ashley Young.

Those fears of another Swansea comeback and defeat, though, came to the fore in the 70th minute, when Gylfi Sigurdsson provided a neat finish with his head to pull the match back level

But there was Rooney, with goals abandoning him of late, popping up 13 minutes from time to hand Manchester United an absolute vital three points. It was a nicely-worked goal too, with Martial turning creator, with a run down the left and a cross, which was backheeled wonderfully by Rooney into the net.

The win means Manchester United now have 33 points from 20 matches, while taking them up to fifth in the table, two points behind Tottenham, who only play on Sunday.