How important is Marouane Fellaini to Man Utd?

Marouane Fellaini is starting to produce good form for Man Utd

Manchester United midfielder Marouane Fellaini is making himself a vital cog in the new United machine under Louis van Gaal.

The former Everton player has turned his own United nightmare into more of the dream he will have envisaged when making his 27.5m move to the club from Everton back in 2013.

The Belgian international was deployed in a more midfield holding role under former boss David Moyes and found himself being treated as a figure of fun by both home fans and away supporters.

He struggled to shine in that role due to a combination of things including a run of injury problems and a drop in confidence coupled with the team and his teammates struggling on a regular basis.

Move on a year and things could not be more different, the Belgium international is enjoying life at Old Trafford after being handed a licence to play further forward in a withdrawn forward role where his aerial ability and attacking threat are best served.

After missing two months of the early campaign with an ankle injury Fellaini has fought his way back into the team and gone from zero in the fans eyes to hero with a string of great performances peaking with a man of the match display in the win over Tottenham on Sunday.

Spurs could not cope with Fellaini's presence between their defence and midfield, with neither of their holding midfielders Ryan Mason or Nabil Bentaleb getting close enough to the Belgian to close down his space or being able to contest in the air.

As a result, Fellaini made best use of a poor display from Kyle Walker to find space between the England international and Eric Dier to finish with aplomb in the opening stages.

His success against Spurs is no shock as he has been improving all season and United have only lost one game where he has completed the full 90 minutes, at Swansea last month.

His presence in the side almost guarantees United will not be beaten and they have won six of the nine games he has finished the full 90 minutes and drawn one other with just two defeats, the Swansea match and the Manchester derby defeat back on November 2nd.

The Red Devils now face a crucial run in to the end of the season in their quest to win one of the four Champions League places on offer. United know they can not afford to miss out on Europe's premier competition for a second successive year if they are to continue to be able to attract the best players to the club, sometimes money is not enough and they have to offer the top competition.

United currently sit in third place in the Barclay's Premier League but face some enormous matches in the near future with Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City all to play before the season reaches it's exciting climax.

They start their run in to the finishing post against their arch rivals Liverpool on Sunday afternoon when they travel to Anfield for what is likely to be a highly charged atmosphere.

Fellaini is likely to get even more stick from the terraces from the Liverpool faithful than the rest of his United team-mates given his former Blue connections in the city but he is unlikely to care.

Moyes' former first lieutenant will relish the hostile atmosphere at Anfield and the opportunity to show both sets of supporters he is back to the sort of form which prompted United to splash out 27.5m on him in the first place.