Form may be temporary and class permanent, but your powers should still fade with age – although, not it seems, if you are Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Ibrahimovic will begin the New Year with a spring in his step after revealing he has taken extra satisfaction in his and United’s upturn in form because people had assumed he was past his best when he signed.

With Jose Mourinho’s side reviving their pursuit of a Champions League place on the back of five successive Premier League victories - and a run of ten games without defeat - optimism is sweeping through Old Trafford and Ibrahimovic has harnessed the mood, insisting it is not too late to mount a challenge to Chelsea’s title charge.

Having failed to impress at the European Championships for Sweden last summer and, having moved from Paris Saint-Germain at the age of 35, it was tempting to assume Ibrahimovic had arrived in the Premier too old to conquer it.