Dubai: Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck leapt to the defence of former Manchester United teammate Wayne Rooney while on a visit to the Arsenal Soccer School at Dubai’s The Sevens stadium on Monday.

Rooney has scored just one goal in seven appearances for United this season, although he surpassed Sir Bobby Charlton’s all-time England scoring record by reaching 50 goals with two penalties for the Three Lions in September.

“He’s come in for a lot of stick recently but he’s just broken the England goalscoring record,” said Welbeck, who joined Arsenal from Manchester United for £16 million [Dh90.13 million] in September last year. “Obviously people are entitled to their own opinion, but we know the player that he is and soon enough I’m sure he’ll be back banging in goals again.”

Asked how high Rooney ranked in the list of players he’s played alongside, Welbeck, who has scored 14 goals in 33 appearances for England, added: “He’s right up there. Growing up at United and training with him day in, day out, I learnt a lot from him.

“You can talk to him about everything, he’s been through a lot of experiences in his life and is always happy to pass that advice on to younger players. Obviously it was a great achievement to pass Sir Bobby. Everyone is over the moon for him, it’s a great achievement.”

Welbeck, who has been out with a long-term knee injury since April and isn’t likely to return until January, had similar words of support for Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger, who has come under scrutiny for his failure to land a single outfield player over the summer.

“Arsene has done a great job at Arsenal, you can’t fault what he’s done. He’s been great with me and the other lads as well, obviously people are entitled to their opinion, but it doesn’t mean what they say is right.”

Instead he believes that, if otherwise inconsistent Arsenal can continue to play with the same mentality as they did in their 3-0 win at home to Manchester United last week, they will be in with a chance of ending their 11-year title wait this season.

“Looking at that game from the outside I thought our mentality was spot on. As a squad going into games we need to make sure that we’re right mentally for every single match, not just selective fixtures.”

Welbeck, who scored 29 goals in 142 appearances for United and eight in 34 for Arsenal before getting injured, added that the players already at Wenger’s disposal were now working to repay the manager’s faith in them after he refused to sign any replacements.

“We’ve got good belief in ourselves that we can challenge in these competitions and you’ve got to have that mentality to succeed.”