'Manchester United are growing in confidence' - Wayne Rooney issues warning to Manchester City

 
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Andy Hodgson22 March 2014

Wayne Rooney believes Manchester United are growing in confidence after they followed up their Champions League victory over Olympiacos with a 2-0 Barclays Premier League win at West Ham.

Many declared that United were in crisis after last week's defeat to Liverpool but two consecutive victories, the latter orchestrated by Rooney's double, have buoyed the mood at Old Trafford.

Rooney opened the scoring with an incredible strike from just inside the West Ham half which caught Hammers goalkeeper Adrian off guard and went in after a single bounce.

The England striker doubled the lead as Mark Noble diverted Ashley Young's cross into his path as he attempted to clear and the troubled champions never looked in a great deal of danger in the second half.

"Today was a good result, a much-needed result after last week," he told Sky Sports 1.

"The win on Wednesday night against Olympiakos has given us all a big lift. I think you could see today, the confidence running through the team so it's a good victory and we're really pleased with that.

"The Olympiakos result was massive for us in terms of picking the fans up, picking ourselves up, after the defeat to Liverpool and today we played some lovely football.

"I'm a bit disappointed we didn't take a few more chances to make the game a bit easier but overall we played some good stuff, we defended excellently.

"I thought Michael Carrick at the back in such a difficult game was outstanding and there's a lot of positives."

Rooney's opener was reminiscent of David Beckham's goal at Wimbledon which launched him onto the scene, but the 28-year-old does not believe it was his best.

"It's just instinct, I've turned and had a quick look and seen the goalkeeper off his line," he said.

"It's one of those I've tried many times and thankfully today it's gone in.

"It's up there, I wouldn't say it's my favourite."

Next up for the outgoing champions is Manchester rivals City on Tuesday night and Rooney is hoping he and his team-mates can carry their momentum into that clash.

"It's a massive game obviously, It's a big game for the City, big game for the for the fans, for the players," he added.

"We're looking forward to it. It's a big challenege for us. We have to go into that game confident after the last two games.

"Hopefully we can get a good result."

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