Premiership: Neville: Van's the man

Phil Neville believes Ruud van Nistelrooy is the hottest striker in the Premiership.

Van Nistelrooy certainly has strong claims and his first hat-trick for Manchester United against Southampton took his tally this season to 16 goals in 21 competitive appearances.

Just as impressively, the Holland international has bagged seven goals in his last four games.

Neville, who scored the pick of the six goals with a great run and shot, has no doubts that van Nistelrooy is the striker in form.

He said : "His form at the moment is probably better than any other striker in the Premiership.

"He's definitely on fire and you just hope the chances fall to him."

Southampton boss and ex-Red Devil Gordon Astrakhan hailed van Nistelrooy as world class.

Astrakhan went on to describe him as "one of the best centre-forward players I've seen for a long time".

Van Nistelrooy looks £19m well spent by Alex Ferguson and the United manager is delighted with the 25-year-old.

Ferguson had rested van Nistelrooy earlier this month because he felt he was tired, but he claims there is nothing wrong with him now.

He is pleased with how well he has come back after missing most of last season with a cruciate ligament injury and he reckons he is getting better all the time.

"Ruud's on fire," said Ferguson. "He's getting stronger.

"I think he's settled in now. There was a period when he looked tired and getting used to the humdrum nature of our game is difficult.

"You've also got to remember he was out of the game for a year and he has done remarkably well to adjust and acclimatise to our game and produce performances like this.

"In that respect it's a great comeback for him."

Van Nistelrooy agreed with Ferguson and he feels he has now adjusted to the pace of the Premiership.

"I have to say the Premier League is a physical league," he said. "The tempo is high. I've got used to that and in the last 15 minutes I'm feeling different from the start of the season so I think I've improved."