Early Strike Pleases Ji

Ji-sung Park was delighted to be able to get the Reds off and running by firing the opening goal in the 5-0 Boxing Day win over Wigan Athletic - and insisted afterwards that early strikes always help to settle the team down.

The Korean found the net in the eighth minute, after being well set-up by best friend Patrice Evra, with a cool and controlled finish into the far corner from ten yards out. United went on the rampage thereafter on a day when Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool all dropped points.

"It's our aim to be at the front. We always try to perform in this period of the season and we're just trying to make our performance higher," Park told MUTV.

"We're still only halfway through the season and we will continue to press City.

"Quite a few players changed [against Wigan] compared to the last game, but we still kept up the same performance as we did against Fulham. It's good for the team and it proves that our squad is strong.

"Early goals make us more confident and energetic for the rest of the game," he added. "We always try to keep going and stay concentrated. Early goals help that a lot."

Park admits he has never known the Reds to have as many injuries as at present, but insists the performance and result against Wigan proves United can cope.

"You know over the last couple of years we've always done that [carried on winning despite injuries]," Park reflected. "We'll hopefully get our defenders back quickly because the coming games are very important for us.

"We changed a lot of players but still we kept the performance high and that has helped us win the league [in the past]. Hopefully that won't change this season."