anthony martial
Anthony Martial will be demoted to the Manchester United bench for their clash against Hull City despite impressing against Wigan Getty

Anthony Martial is set to be dropped for Manchester United's clash against Hull City on Wednesday despite impressing during their 4-0 win over Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup on Sunday (29 January).

The French forward has had a difficult second season and has failed to nail down a regular starting spot under Jose Mourinho. According to The Times, the relationship between the two are strained owing to his lack of game time, and the Portuguese manager is risking further damage by leaving him out of the squad for the game against the Tigers.

The Red Devils boss revealed ahead of the Wigan clash that Martial will start against Marco Silva's team if he put in a magnificent performance, but revealed in his latest press conference that he had only done enough for a place on the bench – this despite the France international assisting two of the four goals United scored against the Lactics.

"He did enough to be on the bench," Mourinho said ahead of Hull's visit to Old Trafford, as quoted by The Times.

"He [Martial] has to perform better than the others who are competing for the same positions. His position is one where we have lots of options. Do you want me to leave Mkhitaryan out after being man of the match and playing so well as he did [against Wigan]? I can't.

"The players pick themselves. I am there to analyse what they do and try to be fair. Such a good performance, Mkhitaryan has to play. Simple," the Portuguese coach explained.

The 21-year-old, who was a £58m ($73m) signing from AS Monaco in 2015, has made just nine starts in the Premier League thus far this campaign. Martial was linked with a move away during the recently concluded January transfer window with Sevilla said to have been interested in signing him on a temporary basis.