Jesse Lingard hails Manchester United goal heroes Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney

Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard has admitted Anthony Martial has already established himself as the club's go-to man. The 20-year-old Frenchman produced another stunning individual display in United's 3-0 triumph against Stoke City at Old Trafford on 2 February and Lingard confessed he is key to their fortunes this season.

Martial scored an eye-catching second goal against Mark Hughes's side, curling the ball into the top corner of the net following a sweeping team move. And Lingard thinks the Red Devils need to supply him with the ball as much as possible.

"If we keep feeding the ball to Anthony Martial, he can make things happen," he told MUTV. "We knew from his goal against Liverpool what he could bring to the team, that pace, that power, and he's got a great goal in him."

Lingard, who opened the scoring at Old Trafford, also praised captain Wayne Rooney's recent form, which has seen him five goals away from equalling Sir Bobby Charlton's all-time record for Manchester United.

"He's always going to score goals, and he leads the team by example. Seven goals in seven matches is a great record and hopefully now he can get eight in eight," the midfielder said after Rooney's latest strike against Stoke.

Lingard, meanwhile, became the first United player to score a goal in the first-half of a match at Old Trafford in more than 11 games. He subsequently admitted it was important to relieve the tension among the home fans. "It's massive. It settles down the fans, the manager and ourselves," he said.

"We started very brightly and as soon as we got the first goal, we were confident of getting a second and third. We needed to score goals, attack and entertain the crowd really. When we do that, we make the game easy for ourselves, so I think we should carry that on now."