Tyrell Malacia identifies reason behind Manchester United turnaround this season

Tyrell Malacia says hard work has formed the bedrock of Manchester United's turnaround in fortunes this season.

United have won successive league games against Liverpool, Southampton, Leicester and Arsenal. Malacia has made a fine start to his United career. The 23-year-old came on for Shaw at half-time during the defeat to Brentford and hasn't looked back since, starting in every game.

The new arrival has now explained what was said in the wake of the sobering 4-0 loss at Brentford in August, as he told Sky Sports how the United squad grouped together to return to winning ways.

When asked about the Premier League, he said: "Every game is difficult, every week is difficult – there are no easy games.

"[After the Brentford match] We spoke with each other a lot, as a team, we trained and the first thing we had to do was the basics - work hard. That’s where it all started, you’ve seen it in the games. It wasn’t always good football but we worked hard and that’s why we kept winning games. Now we have to have that as a standard and now we have to develop our possession game."

United will be hoping to make it five successive league wins when they travel to the Etihad Stadium to take on rivals City next month, and Malacia knows how much the rivalry means to both the players and fans.

He said: "I know, I spoke with the guys and they told me they are really, really big games. But I live for these games, so I have to give everything and we as a team have to give everything. Not even the big games, the other games, it’s important to have your standards high every game."