It was a scintillating performance by Rui Faria’s Red Army on Wednesday night, with José Mourinho watching on from a ‘secret location’ after being handed a one-match touchline ban for kicking a water bottle against West Ham on Sunday. Little did it matter though, as Manchester United booked their place in the EFL Cup semi-finals with a comprehensive 4-1 victory over the Hammers.

United’s attack finally clicked, with the front four of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Wayne Rooney, Anthony Martial and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all interchanging excellently and braces from both Martial and Zlatan sealed a comfortable victory, which saw United score four goals for the second time inside a week.

The win also saw Bastian Schweinsteiger make his first appearance for the Reds since March after being frozen out by Mourinho earlier on in the season and the former German international was given a rapturous ovation by the United faithful and even played a part in setting up United’s final goal.

Critics may once again say this is a false dawn, but we saw signs of United’s best eleven coming to fruition. Here’s four things we learned from the Theatre of Dreams: