Anthony Martial truly looked like a Manchester United number nine against Manchester City.It's been a frustrating season for the Frenchman where he has failed to build on the momentum that saw him becoming United's leading goalscorer during the 2019/20 campaign.The days of Martial being touted as United's next big centre-forward seemed long gone in recent months with just four Premier League goals from 22 appearances in 2020/21.

Martial impresses Solskjaer

But whatever inspired Martial to jettison that poor form and relive the glory days of last season clearly worked a treat because he was fantastic during the 2-0 win at the Etihad Stadium.

Besides, according to the Manchester Evening, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said of his performance after the game: "I thought Anthony was absolutely superb today.

"He was more of the Anthony of old. He turns, gets hold of it. "And to think he was a doubt this morning, until two hours after the warm-up I wasn't sure if he was going to be playing or not. The same with Luke.

Martial shone vs Man City

"Today he rediscovered himself I feel. He was really strong on the ball, positive and that's what it's about. We have to be positive and play at a high-tempo, of course we do."

We couldn't have put it better ourselves, Ole, because give or take the poor one-on-one miss in the second-half, you'd be hard-pressed to pick a single fault with Martial during the derby victory.

Because although he didn't put an end to his goal-scoring worries, you certainly couldn't accuse him of lacking in quality when it came to his interchange play and protection of possession.

Or to put things more simply: the type of qualities for which a prime Roberto Firmino was praised.

Martial drops Ruben Dias

However, of all the fancy tricks and flicks that adorned Martial's Man of the Match performance, we think it's hard to beat his deft moment of dribbling that sent Ruben Dias crashing to the fall.

Sure, he might have conceded possession afterwards, but we're talking about the potential PFA Player of the Year winner being folded like a deckchair when so many forwards have failed to best him.

So, do yourselves a favour and check out Martial's flash of nonchalance down below:

Martial's individual highlights

But if that's not itching your Martial scratch, then fear not, because the £49.5 million-rated forward produced more than just one moment of brilliance at the Etihad - and his individual highlights show that perfectly.

Luckily, courtesy of Twitter user @OFComps, we can sink our teeth into exactly that with Martial evading half the City squad and even producing a cheeky back-heel-volley pass along the way.

Don't just take our word for it, though, because you can check out two minutes of Martial balling against his 'Noisy Neighbours' here:

If only Martial played like that every week, am I right?

Martial silencing his critics

A little like how Solskjaer always seems to produce an incredible result whenever he's threatened with the sack, Martial also appears to silence his critics just as they appear to have won.

Besides, even if it is just one performance and one game, it's tempting to want to give Martial the keys to United's number nine spot when he can shine against the Premier League leaders. 

Sadly, he's proven himself to be far too inconsistent for things to be that easy, but make no mistake that an in-form Martial could fill that role with his eyes closed.