Jesse Lingard enjoyed a dream debut for his new side West Ham as the Manchester United loanee scored two goals in their 3-1 win victory Aston Villa on Wednesday.
The midfielder made the move from United to West Ham in January for the remainder of the campaign in order to play regular first-team football.
Lingard came through United’s academy and has played 210 matches for the club, but found game time difficult to come by under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer this season.
Upon starting his first Premier League game in 13 months, the 28-year-old netted a brace as West Ham eased to victory away at Villa.
Tomas Soucek opened the scoring for David Moyes’ team early in the second half before Lingard’s left-footed drive crept under Emiliano Martinez’s grasp.
Ollie Watkins got the equaliser for Villa, but Lingard scored another goal as Martinez failed to handle the power of the player’s strike.
Speaking to BT Sport after the match, Lingard revealed his delight at being back to football action. He said: ‘Three points is the most important thing, the team worked hard as a collective and we think about the next one against Fulham.
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‘The team have been great with me, I have settled in fairly quickly and some familiar faces help.
‘In training we have that connection and built it up fairly quickly. On matchday it is fairly easy to play with Michail Antonio and Declan Rice.
‘I started tonight, scored two goals and got three points. I was smiling before the game and during, I just enjoy playing football. ‘It has been a long time, I have come here to get game time and scored two goals but like I said, three points is the most important.’
