Two Manchester United players hold the key to ending staggering nine-month Premier League streak

The last time Manchester United kept successive clean sheets in the Premier League was also the last time Anthony Martial scored for the club. The latter will never happen again but the former could finally do so this weekend.

If you widen it out to all competitions, you could argue it has already been done. It was November 26 when United last enjoyed back-to-back shut-outs, beating Luton Town 1-0 at Old Trafford and then Everton 3-0 at Goodison Park. It was the day of Alejandro Garnacho's goal of the season and Martial's final contribution of any note before his departure.

While the Frenchman could make his debut for AEK Athens this weekend - a sign of the trajectory of his career - United will hope to prove they are going in the opposite direction. The last week has been a positive one and the gluttony of goals against Southampton and Barnsley has grabbed the headlines.

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But those 3-0 and 7-0 victories have come without the defences being breached, the first time that has happened in successive games for nine months. Critics will point to Barnsley's League One status so to really solidify defensive improvement, United would love to stop Crystal Palace from scoring, having shipped four to them at Selhurst Park back in May.

The signs are certainly encouraging. United faced just eight shots across 180 minutes against Southampton and Barnsley and the opposition have had just 52 attempts against Erik ten Hag's team in six games this season. That is a stark contrast to the profligacy of last season when they faced 57 in the last three games alone.

United faced double figures for shots in all of their final 23 games of the season. On 11 of those occasions the shot count was over 20 and five times it was higher than 25. It was never going to be sustainable.

Given the number of times opposition teams could try their luck against United, it's no surprise that they kept only six clean sheets in their final 33 games of last season. It was a problem that had to be fixed but Ten Hag's comments towards the end of last season often suggested a failure to grasp the issue, instead pointing out to xG figures and playing down the importance of that high shout count.

Something has clearly changed. United are giving away far fewer shots and conceding fewer goals as a result. It's no surprise that perhaps the key improvement is a more secure defence and while neither played in midweek, the partnership between Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez could be crucial.

Ten Hag used more than 30 different combinations in his back four last season as injuries struck, and he fielded more than 10 centre-back pairings. The most-used partnership was Raphael Varane and Jonny Evans - and they played only six times together.

If De Ligt and Martinez start together at Selhurst Park they will already be halfway to that total. It's also likely to be a third successive league game in which Ten Hag picks the same back four and aside from perhaps Luke Shaw, it is also his first-choice backline.

That familiarity is making a difference, as is an improved midfield structure that has stopped teams from finding it so easy to run through United and get at the defence. Now they can show just how considerable the improvement it is at the scene of their darkest day last season.