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Wayne Rooney can score 25 goals this season, and a hat-trick against Arsenal, says Paul Scholes

Scholes has no doubts former team-mate will bounce back from slump

Thursday 01 October 2015 10:17 BST

Wayne Rooney applauds the United fans after the Wolfsburg victory

Paul Scholes has said that Wayne Rooney will score 20-25 goals this term if he plays the full season.

Rooney did not have the best of nights aganst Wolfsburg despite Manchester United's 2-1 win over Wolfsburg in the Champions League last night, but his former team-mate Scholes said that he has no doubts Rooney will go on to score "20-25 goals" this season if he stays fit, and he would not be surprised if the United captain scores a hat-trick against Arsenal in their crucial Premier League clash on Sunday.

Speaking as a pundit on BT Sports after United's victory over Wolfsburg, Scholes said:

"He didn't have his best night, we all saw that.

"But we know what Wayne is capable of, if he plays a full season he will score 20-25 goals.

"He's the type of player that can have a bad night and then go and score two, or three on Sunday."

Rooney has scored four goals for United this season.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

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1/11Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

David De Gea: 6 out of 10

Was never really tested in the match, but did well when called into action although he couldn’t do a lot to keep out Caligiuri’s early goal.

2015 Getty Images

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Valencia: 4 out of 10

His struggles at right-back were highlighted in just the fifth minute after he played Caligiuri onside for the Wolfsburg winger’s opener. Was hauled off at half-time and replaced by Young.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Blind: 5 out 10

Dragged out of position by Kruse in the build-up to the opener, which allowed Caligiuri the space and time he needed to shoot past De Gea and open the scoring.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Smalling: 8 out of 10

Should have communicated better with Blind to ensure they both did not try and stop Kruse for Wolfsburg’s first goal but did well to react quickly to Mata’s back-heel pass and give United the lead with his goal.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Darmian: 7 out of 10

Demonstrated some good attacking play from his left-back position by regularly sending long-range crosses to Mata on the right and did well defensively when called upon, but came under increasing pressure after Schurrle came on.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Schneiderlin: 4 out of 10

Should have done better to stop Kruse for the opener after failing to pressurise him enough, thereby allowing the winger to set up Caligiuri in the fifth minute. Struggled after Schweinsteiger went off and was lucky not to have been sent off for his needless foul on Draxler in the dying stages of the game while already on a yellow.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Schweinsteiger: 6 out of 10

Did well to contain the threat of Kruse alongside Schneiderlin in the early stages of the game, but after picking up a yellow card, was brought off in the second half - although his departure allowed Wolfsburg’s creative players much more space to build up attacks.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Mata: 8 out of 10

The midfielder was United’s best man on the pitch. After winning a penalty with the home side trailing by a goal, Mata then calmly stepped up to the spot and slotted past Benaglio to equalise before his superb back-heel pass set up Smalling for the winner. Aside from these contributions, he regularly set up his teammates with some fine crosses into the area.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Rooney: 5 out of 10

Should have equalised in the first half, but fired Martial’s superb cross high despite being completely unmarked. The United captain spent much of the game as a bystander but superbly cleared Draxler’s second-half effort that was heading into the goal.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Depay: 6 out of 10

Was at the end of some fantastic crosses from Mata but couldn’t convert any of those into a goal. Despite not being able to get on the score-sheet, his pace caused Wolfsburg full-back Trasch many problems but his inability to make a real impact resulted in Memphis being taken off and replaced by Pereira on the hour mark.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Martial: 6 out of 10

Kept dropping to the right in the early stages of the game to find the ball and it worked as the forward got past Rodriguez time and time again. While not being able to score, he played a key role in setting up attacks.

In the win over Wolfsburg, recovered from conceding a goal after four minutes to win their first Champions League match of the season when they beat VfL Wolfsburg 2-1 at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

Exactly six years to the day since the two clubs last met at Old Trafford, the Group B game followed the same pattern with Wolfsburg taking the lead and United winning.

Daniel Caligiuri opened the scoring after some poor United defending before Juan Mata equalised with a 34th-minute penalty after Caligiuri handled in his own penalty area.

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