Eight successive wins for the first time since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made such a brilliant start to his tenure in the middle of the 2018-19 season is a decent way for Ten Hag's side to approach the latest Manchester derby.

This triumph was achieved with a team missing at least seven players expected to be part of United's starting line-up against City, with expectations high they will avoid the chastening first-half endured at Etihad Stadium, when they trailed 4-0.

The progress since then has been immense. And, in Antony, they have an £81.3m winger who has now scored in successive games and brings trickery to wide areas straight out of the United tradition.

The Brazilian's first-half opener owed much to Diogo Dalot. The Portugal full-back did not last the opening period due to injury but it was his off-the-ball burst into the Charlton penalty area that created the space for Antony to curl a superb effort from Fred's square pass into the far corner.

Fred smacked a thunderous shot against a post and Christian Eriksen brought an excellent save out of Ashley Maynard-Brewer before Rashford extended his scoring streak.

First he swept home a pass from debutant Facundo Pellistri before he beat Maynard-Brewer in the final minute of stoppage time with a precise finish.

The England man is arguably in the best form of his career and Pep Guardiola already knows the damage he is capable of inflicting on a City defence that will need to be on its guard every bit as much as their hosts'.

Charlton's 9,000-strong travelling support, their largest ever for a midweek cup tie, applauded their side off, having backed them throughout, briefly raising hopes of an equaliser when Scott Fraser curled his free-kick straight at Tom Heaton.

For United, it means eight wins on the trot and a third last-four appearance in this competition in six seasons since they won it in 2017 under Jose Mourinho, their last domestic silverware.

source: BBC