Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has praised centre-back Eric Bailly for his performance against Chelsea last night. The Ivorian international started his first competitive game for ten months and was a key figure in keeping a clean sheet.

Solskjaer was particularly happy with one vital intervention that the 25-year-old made in the second half, when he stopped Mateo Kovacic from having a clear sight on David De Gea’s goal:

“Absolutely fantastic, wasn’t he? Not a bad [selection] conundrum, because Eric’s a top player. It was his first game since we played Chelsea last year in April. He’s such a top, top defender and his block from [Mateo] Kovacic is out of this world defending. He’s quick, he’s strong brave as a lion and it’s great to have him back.”

Bailly didn’t start the game particularly well, with a few loose touches, but as the game wore on, he grew in stature and made a number of important challenges.

As Solskjaer mentions, it will be interesting to see who wins out between the Ivorian and Victor Lindelof in the battle to partner Harry Maguire in the centre of defence for upcoming games.

Bailly may need some rest after playing his first 90 minutes since last April so it is probably unlikely that we’ll see him in the starting line up against Club Brugge in the Europa League on Thursday night.