Alex Ferguson’s prediction about Jesse Lingard is ringing true

Jesse Lingard has somehow lost ground on Mo Salah in a crazily impressive Premier League stats race.

Averaging a goal or assist every 83.7 minutes in this season's Premier League, the Manchester United midfielder scored a cracker against Everton in a 2-0 victory. Lingard was on the Goodison Park pitch for 87 minutes in that away win so his goal involvement dropped back to 84 minutes. Jesse Lingard contributing a goal or assist every 84 minutes. Time have changed and, for the 25-year-old, they have changed for the much, much better. Mo Salah [Liverpool] and Sergio Aguero [Manchester City] lead the way but Lingard is now level with a fellow England international who has been receiving a raft of praise this season, Raheem Sterling. https://twitter.com/SkySportsPL/status/948119808989646848 It took Lingard until October 21 to earn his first start of the season, in the away loss to Huddersfield. He had already contributed two assists as a substitute but Jose Mourinho was seeking to accommodate the likes of Juan Mata, Anthony Martial, Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford. Lingard's next start was on November 28 in the away date with Watford. He scored a belter and chipped in with another assist and has not looked back since. In the past six weeks, Lingard has scored seven league goals and made two assists. He also has three League Cup goals. His goal against the Toffees, which sealed the win for United, was so good that it topped Martial's wonderful top-corner strike. Cutting in from the left, Lingard glided past a couple of Everton players before curling a beauty into almost the exact same spot. One almost felt sorry for Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford as he had no chance with either. Following the game, Lingard revealed to MUTV that he had set himself a goalscoring target ahead of 2017/18. Interestingly, for a player who has doubled his previous best [he scored four in 2015/16] he said he was not at his target yet.

"I have still got a target in mind and I’m working towards that. I just want to assist and score goals to help the team – it’s good for me and that’s my aim."

One would suspect that Lingard set himself a target of 15 goals during the summer. If most football fans had heard that back in mid October, they would have scoffed. Lingard is showing his worth now and has been crucial for United since he was granted a run in the start Asked if he was willing to reveal the magic goalscoring number, Lingard replied, "No, it’s secret!

"But I’m working towards it and I’ll keep working hard to help the team. It’s always good for us to score as attacking players and to help the team get the three points. I'm pushing myself and trying to get as many goals as possible this season to help the team to win games."

As we have noted on these pages in the past, Lingard is not some young pup any more. He is in his mid 20s now and made his professional debut [on loan at Leicester City] in November 2012. Back in 2012, Alex Ferguson predicted that it might take Lingard until he was 24 or 25 to really get going. He commented:

"Jesse is 19, came through our youth system and is built like Jean Tigana was for France. But he never got into the limelight there until he was about 24, and I think that will be the same with Lingard."

It looks like Ferguson is spot on. Now, if only Lingard could finish off those sitters...