Monday 4 December 2017 15:52, UK
Jose Mourinho believes there is a direct correlation between Victor Lindelof's improvement and Manchester United's form in recent weeks.
After joining United in a £30.7m move from Benfica in the summer, Lindelof was dropped by Mourinho before the start of the Premier League campaign after failing to impress in pre-season.
However, the 23-year-old appears to have grown in confidence in recent weeks after earning a recall to the first team and the Sweden international has now featured in each of United's last four victories in the league - including the 3-1 win over Arsenal at the Emirates on Saturday.
Mourinho believes Lindelof is finally showing the form which convinced the club to hand the defender a four-year contract after signing him from Portugal.
"He is like the team," said Mourinho, ahead of United's Champions League clash with CSKA Moscow. "When the team plays well, he plays well. When the team doesn't play so well, he doesn't play so well.
"The mistakes he had in matches were not mistakes against the level of the team. When he made mistakes it was when the team was playing bad.
"The team is playing well, Victor is playing well."
Lindelof admits he struggled to adapt to English football after first arriving but is pleased to be contributing to United, who are currently without injured defensive duo Phil Jones and Eric Bailly.
"I'm always happy to help in the team in any way I can," said Lindelof. "Of course I'm very pleased to be able to help the team on the pitch and get some good results."
The Swede added: "The league we play in, the Premier League, is a tougher league than the Portuguese league.
"They [Benfica and Manchester United] are two big clubs but here in Manchester it is a bigger club - one of the biggest in the world.
"You have more eyes watching you. I would say that is the biggest difference."
