Lucky to have Zlatan, Lukaku: Smalling

Manchester United defender Chris Smalling said on Saturday his club is lucky to have the presence of strikers Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Romelu Lukaku, who can beat any rival defence.

The Belgian international has scored seven times in his eight appearances for Manchester United in the English Premier League (EPL) this season.

While, the Swedish who re-signed a one-year contract with United earlier this year, had scored 28 goals in 46 games in the previous EPL season, which was cut short due to his knee injury.

The 35-year-old will be available for the Jose Mourinho-managed side once he recovers from the injury.

"A bit like Zlatan (Ibrahimovic), we play off a main man who we feed off and he has been bang in form and we are very lucky to have him and Zlatan when he comes back," Smalling was quoted saying by Sky Sports.

"He is someone who likes to run in behind, he likes to be involved and he is always stressing to us if we can play him in those channels, then he feels favourite to beat any defender," the 27-year-old who has made 156 appearances for Manchester United since 2010 added.

Manchester United drew 0-0 against Liverpool in their last EPL fixture.

However, Smalling believes there are not many clubs this season who can stop United from scoring goals.

"You can see that we have attacking players, albeit they still have to defend when Liverpool have those attacks," the English international said.

"But we kept it tight and we know that when we get those chances, more often than not, when we keep a clean sheet or are defensively sound, then nine times out of 10 we will win that game because not many teams can stop us from scoring," Smalling added.

--IANS

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