<
>

Chris Smalling lauds Man United duo Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford

England defender Chris Smalling reckons that Manchester United's attacking duo of Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford scared Everton defenders in the FA Cup semifinal.

The duo combined to deadly effect to help United secure a spot in the final against Crystal Palace, with a 2-1 win over Everton on Sunday at Wembley.

Rashford was involved in the opening goal that saw Marouane Fellaini give United the lead, before Martial netted an injury-time winner after Smalling scored an own goal to help Everton tie the game.

"Now, I think the world's their oyster if they can stay fit and keep playing together," Smalling told the Manchester Evening News.

"I think you can see the Everton defenders were really scared to get tight with them, because they've got that ability in behind them and it's great to have that attacking edge to our game."

Martial, who joined the Red Devils in a £36 million transfer move from Monaco in September last year, has taken to English football quickly, and has found the back of the net 14 times in all competitions.

His winner against Everton sealed his status as one of the top marksmen in the English game, and Smalling reckons his French teammate has been nothing short of sensational since donning the red of Manchester.

"No one is going to have a harder circumstance coming to Old Trafford with the pressure he had and he is performing brilliantly," Smalling added.

"A lot of players come with potential but it's how they perform on that stage and luckily enough for us he's taken to it like it's nothing.

"Not many players come in with that amount of pressure and he was relatively unknown to the majority of us so to see him turn up week after week, he's our main attacking threat and he's been brilliant all season.

"Nothing seems to faze him and you can see that when he gets the ball, he's got the beating of anyone no matter who he's playing against.

"More often than not he gets the beating of them and that's great for us because you just want to feed players like that who are constantly that high on confidence all season.

"You can tell in training sessions, his pace, his ability to take on people, after a few training sessions you have to try to suss him out."

The FA Cup final will be played at Wembley on May 21.