Manchester United’s Ashley Young has enjoyed a fruitful few months in the Premier League of late. United are on a six-match winning streak and Young has featured in his preferred left wing position for the bulk of that time. Maximum points have seen United reach a high of second place, and Young has had a lot to do with his club's success.

Their most recent and compelling win came against local rivals Manchester City in the second derby of the season, where Young performed at his very best scoring United’s opening goal to cancel out Sergio Aguero’s earlier effort. And as if that wasn’t enough, the 29-year-old then made assists for both Marouane Fellaini and Chris Smalling. With the match ending 4-2 in United’s favour, the Red Devils claimed an important scalp on their journey to cementing a top four finish.

United’s triumphant display against City was similar in style to when they faced both Liverpool and Tottenham a couple of games ago. United have utilised Young on the left wing and Juan Mata on the right to good effect. Both are pacey players able to spread the play out wide taking on the full backs and getting the ball into the box for team mates like Wayne Rooney.

Earlier in the season manager Louis van Gaal was ridiculed for using too many long balls to provide his forwards with goal scoring opportunities and though they were steadily climbing the table, the football being played was neither convincing nor attractive. Now Van Gaal has found a system and line up that works and Young is a key component of that.

Since joining from Aston Villa in 2011, Young has come in for his fair share of criticism due to numerous cases of diving and below par performances. But now under Van Gaal the winger is thriving and seems to be repairing his once tarnished reputation.

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After adding his contribution last weekend Young has brought his total of Premier League assists to 58, meaning he features in the top 20 all-time list - quite an achievement for the winger who is still in his peak years.

The exploits of the trio of Young, Fellaini and Mata have been so impressive post Christmas that new boys Angel di Maria and Radamel Falcao are finding it hard to get any starts. Where once all three looked like they’d be squeezed out of Van Gaal’s starting XI now the trio have turned their fortunes around and look irreplaceable.

Van Gaal is known for working well with players individually and as a team so it should be of no surprise that the Dutchman has found a way to return confidence and style back to Young’s performances focussing on improving the positives of his game rather than trying to remould him.

When everything was going so badly last season under David Moyes it was easy to pick apart and find faults in players like Young, so the fact that he is now regularly producing high quality crosses and finding the net himself shows how much difference 12 months can make.

Van Gaal would do well to stick with his current formation for the rest of the campaign and surely Young will be one of the first names he’ll add to his team sheet. If United do play in the Champions League and make a push for the title next year then Young will get the chance to prove once again on the biggest stages that he is one of, if not the, best wingers England has to offer.

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