Victor Lindelof saluted centre-back partner Harry Maguire after the duo helped Manchester United tighten their grip on a top-four berth with a comfortable 3-0 win over Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Tuesday evening.
United registered their sixth successive win in all competitions thanks to goals either side of the half-time interval from Casemiro, Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford. The win kept the Reds in fourth-place, but only behind third-placed Newcastle United on goal difference, following their goalless draw with Arsenal.
The victory also marked the Reds' third successive clean sheet in the Premier League and a fourth in a row in all competitions since the season restarted after the World Cup. Lindelof and Maguire were surprise inclusions in the heart of the back-four after manager Erik ten Hag made the decision to drop Raphael Varane to the bench and move Shaw back into his natural left-back berth.
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Their inclusions in the starting line-up generated a few murmurs of concern ahead of kick-off but they both produced largely solid performances to help United keep their recent run of form going. The duo have started countless games alongside each other in recent seasons and Lindelof, who started in the league for the first time since before the World Cup, paid credit to his centre-half partner.
"Of course it is very nice to be back and to get some minutes in the legs," Lindelof told MUTV. "It is always nice to help the team get the three points.
"It felt good physically and obviously I have played a lot of games with H [Harry Maguire] and I thought it worked well today. We have played a lot of games together, he is a fantastic player and I think he performed at a very high level today."
Although United coasted their way to victory, they did have goalkeeper David de Gea to call upon during the second half. He was called into action to thwart both Philip Billing and Jaidon Anthony.
Reflecting on the overall performance, Lindelof added: "Of course it is always great to score some goals and keep a clean sheet. I think we made it a little bit difficult for ourselves towards the end; we could have controlled the game a little bit better, but we kept a clean sheet and won the game, so that is the most important thing."
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