Lingard: I'm Living The Dream At United

Manchester United winger Jesse Lingard says playing for the club is "a dream come true", and has challenged himself to score more goals for the Reds this season.

Lingard found the net for the third time this term when he opened the scoring in United's 3-0 victory over Stoke at Old Trafford, heading home Cameron Borthwick-Jackson's excellent cross on 14 minutes.

Speaking to ManUtd.com after the game, Lingard said that featuring regularly for the first team has always been his objective, and he insisted he'll continue to work hard to keep his place in the side.

"Obviously, it was my main aim when I was young, so to now be playing week in, week out in the Premier League for Manchester United is a dream come true," he said. "I’m living the dream but I know I’ve got to keep working hard because others are fighting for my place too, so I have to keep scoring goals and creating chances."

When asked about the team's improved performances in recent games, Lingard commented: "We’ve got freedom and a lot of energy in the team. We want to entertain the crowd and this win is a weight off our shoulders, we can just play football now.

"We know that as long as we’ve got the fans behind us we’ll come through. It [recent criticism] has been hard, but we have to concentrate on the games.

"We have to play the match as we see it at the time, we showed great character to bounce back against Derby and Stoke. We can now concentrate on trying to get another three points [against Chelsea this weekend]."