Manchester United fans hardly need to be reminded of Zlatan Ibrahimovic's impact at Old Trafford.

There was a time when the 35-year-old was deemed too old to cut it in English football, but in typical Zlatan style, he's made his doubters eat their words with 25 goals in all competitions this season.

Even without his heroics in the EFL Cup final, the Swede would already have had a pretty fine debut season.

Yet, he scored an impressive brace in the 3-2 win over Southampton at Wembley to help United to the first possible silverware of the campaign.

Unfortunately, unless they win the Europa League, that may be the only tangible success Jose Mourinho's men enjoy this term.

United sit sixth in the Premier League table, and while it's easy to argue they're playing much more entertaining football than they were under Louis van Gaal, they still need to be striving for the Champions League spots.

Then again, without Ibra, the situation could be even worse.

Vital goals

Obviously, not many teams would fare all that well without their top scorer. Just for the fun of it, though, we've done some number crunching, and it shows the striker in a glowing light.

Ibrahimovic has scored 15 league goals so far, many of which have come at crucial times.

Incredibly, United have only lost once when he's scored, and that defeat came in the Manchester derby against City.

Against Bournemouth, Sunderland, West Ham, and Leicester, his goals didn't actually alter the result, but there are quite a few occasions when he earned the points almost by himself.

Class is permanent

All of United's wins against Southampton, Swansea, Crystal Palace, and West Brom would otherwise have been draws had it not been for Ibra.

And equally, they may well have lost against Everton, West Ham, and Liverpool had he not rescued a point in all of those games.

Ultimately, that means they're indebted to him for 11 of their points this season, without which they'd be ninth in the table.

It's almost unbelievable that Ibra arrived on a free transfer. He's got to be the bargain of the season.

Mourinho will no doubt have one eye on a long-term successor, whether that be Marcus Rashford, Antoine Griezmann, or someone else. Mind you, despite Ibrahimovic's age, he shows no signs of slowing down.

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