Schneiderlin Confident Ahead Of Christmas Period

Morgan Schneiderlin believes Manchester United must start the busy December period strongly, starting with a win over high-flying Leicester this weekend.

The Reds are traditionally strong as the year draws to a close, and victory at the King Power Stadium on Saturday would see Louis van Gaal's side overtake the current league leaders ahead of the hectic festive schedule.

The Frenchman believes that going into December at the top of the Barclays Premier League is vital, and says United's resolute defence can provide a good platform for success.

"It’s very important to start this period on top of the table and carry on building confidence before games on Boxing Day and over Christmas," he told MUTV. "We know we can build on the strong back four, we aren’t going to concede many goals and it’s very good to be sure about a strength like this.

"If you want to win the league, you need strong foundations and a strong defence and that’s what we have. We want to take this game and win; we’ll make sure that Leicester find it difficult."

An interesting sub-plot in Saturday's late kick-off surrounds Foxes forward Jamie Vardy, who is looking to score for the 11th consecutive game and break Ruud van Nistelrooy's record, which has stood since 2003.

Asked about Leicester's man of the moment, Schneiderlin was quick to praise the striker but stressed that success in football comes as a result of teamwork.

“He’s been brilliant, it’s amazing to score that many goals for a team but especially a team like Leicester, who last year secured their safety in the last few games," he added. "What they’re doing is very good; to be top at the end of November and start of December, it’s very good for their club but now they have a difficult period. We’ll do our best to expose them and make sure Vardy doesn’t get the record.

“It’s not only one player in a team. He gets all the rewards by scoring goals, but I’m sure his team-mates are doing a great job. I know they have good, strong players and their manager is a good organiser. He’s an Italian coach who organises teams very well, so it will be a hard game but we know that if we play at full strength, with our quality, we can be first."