Christian Eriksen sets challenge for Manchester United midfielders after Casemiro praise

Christian Eriksen has hailed fellow summer signing Casemiro for his impact at Manchester United and has called on the midfield to get more goals going forward.

Casemiro netted his first United goal against Chelsea on Saturday, heading the ball off the post and across the line in stoppage time to salvage a point in the 1-1 draw. After a stagnated start, the Brazilian has started six consecutive games and put in some impressive performances.

Eriksen - who is yet to score in 15 appearances but has provided four assists - praised Casemiro for his influence at United, who are now unbeaten in six matches. “I’m very pleased [Casemiro got his first goal]. He’s a good guy and I think he’s settled very well,” he told in-house media.

“He’s a good guy for the group and as we can see on the pitch he’s starting to show his value. He brings a lot of calmness and a lot of experience at the same time.

“He’s won a lot of trophies, a lot of games in his career so he knows how football is going to be played and he reads the game well.”

Casemiro’s goal follows strikes from Fred and Bruno Fernandes in the 2-0 win over Tottenham last week. Eriksen said it was good to see midfielders getting in on the act of scoring and encouraged them to increase this output going forward.

He added: “I think [speaking] as a midfielder, we need to get even more goals to help the team and really get the games easier to play. But it’s a start, we need to start somewhere - I’m late [at scoring this season] compared to the other ones but if the other guys keep going then it’ll be fine.”