Paul Scholes defends under-fire Manchester United hitman Wayne Rooney

Paul Scholes has defended under-fire Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney and backed him to respond to his critics with a strong showing in Sunday's trip to Arsenal.

The United captain, who has netted one Premier League goal this season, delivered a mixed performance in tonight's 2-1 Champions League win over Wolfsburg at Old Trafford.

Twitter was rife with jabs at Rooney after he missed a good chance from eight yards but, with Arsenal next on the agenda, his former teammate Scholes expects a much better display at the Emirates.

"Who cares about social media? I don't," the former Red Devils midfielder told BT Sport.

"He didn't have his best night, we all saw that, but we know what Wayne's capable of, if he plays a full season he's going to score 20-25 goals.

"It probably wasn't his best night but he's the type of player that can have a bad night and then go and score two or three goals on Sunday - lets hope he does that."

Daniel Caligiuri fired the visitors into an early lead, but goals from Juan Mata and Chris Smalling either side of the half-time break saw Louis van Gaal's troops turn it around.