United defender hails inspirational team-mate

Jonny Evans has praised Wayne Rooney’s performance against Arsenal on Sunday, hailing the United striker as an example for all his team-mates this season.

After a turbulent summer, during which he seemed set to depart United, Rooney has enjoyed a remarkable turnaround in form and Sunday’s performance against the league leaders proved again just how valuable the 28-year-old is to David Moyes and Manchester United, as Rooney put in an impressive shift as well as providing the assist for Robin Van Persie’s winner.

“I think his energy is about as much as you’ll get from him,” said Evans. “He worked his socks off. He looked sharp and he’s been doing that in training quite a lot, committing players and going at them, and he put that into practice.

“It really helps us a lot. He needs to be involved in the game, he likes to be the main man on the ball, and he enjoys getting back to make tackles. That’s what he thrives on, and as we saw, if he puts the effort in, we get the reward for that.”

Evans hailed the atmosphere at Old Trafford,which has often been subject to severe criticism, as one of the best he has experienced in his time at United. “I think that’s the best atmosphere I’ve heard at Old Trafford in a long time, other than against Real Madrid in the Champions League last season,” said the Northern Irishman.

“Right from the start, the fans were very loud and it was a really enjoyable game to play in. The tempo of the game and the spirit that it was played in was very good.

“The result was important, especially with Arsenal being top of the league,” he admitted. “Apart from Liverpool, the other teams around us have slipped up, so it was big in terms of the points. It needed to be a good performance to beat Arsenal, and it was.

“We got off to a bad start [this season], but we talked about it, and we want to be within touching distance of top spot by the Christmas period.

“We know that we always finish the season well, we’ve got experience on our side and we’ve got history at this great club, so we’re in a good position.”