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Football

30th Nov 2016

Manchester United fans react with complete calm to Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s backheel assist

Making an impact

Tom Victor

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has had a slowish start to his Manchester United career, but the Armenian is finally starting to make things happen.

After an impressive performance against Feyenoord in the Europa League last week, some thought he would get 90 minutes against West Ham United in the league on Sunday.

That didn’t happen, but he did return to the starting XI when the same opponents came to Old Trafford in the EFL Cup quarter-finals.

And Mkhitaryan made an instant impact, laying on the opening goal for Zlatan Ibrahimović inside two minutes.

It was only *checks calculator* one goal, but that didn’t stop United fans getting very, very, very, very excited.

https://twitter.com/TrendsManc/status/804056826107088896

There are some parallels with Shinji Kagawa’s first season at Old Trafford, and not just because both players arrived from Borussia Dortmund.

Like the Japan midfielder, Mkhitaryan has impressed whenever he has been given a chance, yet still seems to lack the trust of his manager when it comes to getting regular Premier League minutes.

https://twitter.com/UtdRantcast/status/804055651668414465

Perhaps there’s another reason why Mkhitaryan has struggled for game-time in the league.

But it does have people asking one question: with United outside the Champions League places, why haven’t we seen him strutting his stuff more regularly.

https://twitter.com/gregianjohnson/status/804053979944615938

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