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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Will Freeman

Paul Scholes explains how Christian Eriksen is improving Manchester United after Arsenal win

Paul Scholes has praised the impact of Christian Eriksen on Manchester United, saying that the midfielder has brought the forward-thinking mentality that has been missing in recent years.

Eriksen was expected to play as a more advanced player when he joined this summer, but has settled into a deeper-lying role since joining the club, performing the playmaking duties that Scholes was used to during his playing career at Old Trafford. Eriksen has started in all six of United's matches so far and recorded his first assist against Arsenal.

He played the pass that saw Marcus Rashford score the third and decisive goal in what was a landmark win for Erik ten Hag's side against the team which is top of the Premier League.

Read more: United player ratings in Arsenal win

Scholes was hugely complimentary of the Danish midfielder, saying that his skillset is exactly what United have been missing.

He told PLP: "Well, forwards know when the ball's coming - they know they've got a midfield player who is thinking about them even before the ball comes. They know he's watching, he's looking all the time.

"He's always scanning the pitch and he's only thinking about going forward - I can't tell you how important that is as a number ten and as a wide player because, if you don't have that and you have the players that we've had playing in there who are always facing backwards and going backwards, their movement's a waste of time, so whatever movement they do it doesn't matter.

"You see Bruno, who's so clever to get in those spaces behind the midfield and in front of the back four, but you need someone to find him and Christian Eriksen has certainly got that. For a number 10 to have any kind of influence on a football game then they need a midfield player of that kind of quality."

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