Manchester United’s Lingard hails Ibrahimovic after West Brom win

Manchester United winger Jesse Lingard has heaped praise on talismanic striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic after the Red Devils’ 2-0 win at West Bromwich Albion.

Ibrahimovic bagged both goals as Jose Mourinho’s side earned their fourth win in a row in all competitions to keep pace with the Premier League’s top four.

Lingard, who set up Ibrahimovic for his first goal, said the Swede was great to play alongside due to the nature of his running and his clinical touch in front of goal.

“He’s a natural goalscorer,” said Lingard. “You could see that by how well he took his goals.

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“He is great to play alongside because he makes such great runs and that makes him easy to link up with.

“The manager just told me to make sure I noticed the gaps so I could run in behind and I looked up and saw Zlatan in the box and he finished with a great header.”

Lingard also praised the United backline for coping with the physical threat of Tony Pulis’ Baggies.

“They have some tall lads but I thought we dealt with that very well,” he added.

“They [the defenders] knew that it would be tough to win things in the air against players with such height but we matched them and deserved a clean sheet.”