Arsenal legend defends Romelu Lukaku amid the recent goalscoring drought

Arsenal legend-turned-pundit Paul Merson has backed Romelu Lukaku to come good for Manchester United despite his recent goal drought. The Belgium international started the season in a good note with four goals coming in no time but he has since gone through a run of eight matches across all competitions for United without scoring.

As such, there has been plenty of criticism labelled towards the former Everton man but Merson feels the blame should be put on the players behind him who have not created enough, he told Sky Sports: “Lukaku went to Manchester United to score bundles of goals and get bundles of chances. He’s playing in a team at the moment, up front, on his own, that are playing like a bottom-half team… a relegation team. He should be getting seven chances a game at Old Trafford. Does he trust the players he’s playing with?”

Despite Merson’s comments, Lukaku does find himself under pressure to return to scoring ways and that may happen during the weekend when Everton make the trip to Old Trafford. The Belgian was the subject of boos from the Toffees faithful last time around but he managed to have the final say after bagging the third goal during the Red Devils’ comfortable 4-0 triumph at the stadium.

Meanwhile, United have also experienced a rather poor start to the season and a run of just four league wins from nine matches sees them occupying the 10th position on the standings. The Red Devils have dominated the proceedings when it comes to facing Everton over the years but they may need to be cautious of the threat from Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson, who possess the quality to outwit their defence which has been far from impressive. Jose Mourinho’s team have conceded 16 goals from just nine Premier League matches this term.