In our 2-0 win over Everton on Saturday, Christian Eriksen made his first appearance for Manchester United since January after being kept out by a horror challenge from Andy Carroll in the FA Cup. The timing is great for us, with Casemiro still serving a ban in domestic competitions, and the games still coming thick and fast.

After the Everton game, Erik ten Hag spoke of his relief at having Eriksen back after previously believing he would be out for the season

I was so angry about that tackle. It was a really bad tackle and a bad injury. I thought we lost him for the whole season. He is ahead of schedule and we are very happy with that.

Speaking to the club’s official podcast, Eriksen spoke about how his free transfer move from Brentford to United.

Well I ended up being at Brentford until the summer obviously and the contract was running out. So I was free to talk to other clubs and I kept my possibilities open. At the time, I wasn’t closed down on going back to Brentford, I wanted to see what else came in or [if] something could tempt me away from how good it was there. And then, of course, United came in.

[I was] speaking to the manager on the phone and then I could actually see myself going to United. Luckily, they pulled through [to make the move] and I did as well. So, in the end, coming here was definitely very special.

Having played against United at Old Trafford for Ajax, Tottenham Hotspur and Brentford, Eriksen reflected on what it’s like for opposition players to come to our ground.

The vibe in the stadium as an away player was intense but not really scary. And then coming here and playing, I do get why some people – especially now and how it’s going – are scared to play because of the crowd. [They are] good people, good fans. It’s a wonderful stadium.

[It was] weird [walking out of the tunnel as a United player for the first time]. The same as when you walk into the stadium, walking to the right instead of the left [to get to the] changing rooms and stuff. So that was a bit of a different feeling compared to being here the last few times but no, it was special.