Smalling Reveals United's January Target

Increasingly influential defender Chris Smalling has challenged Manchester United to be within touching distance of the Barclays Premier League summit by the end of January.

The Reds slipped down the table to sixth place during a disappointing December in which only two points from a possible 15 were registered by Louis van Gaal’s team.

However, given how unpredictable and inconsistent this season has been for all teams, Smalling is optimistic of getting back on track and has set the players a target to achieve within the next four weeks.

Speaking to MUTV ahead of Saturday’s match against Swansea City at Old Trafford, Chris said: “It is a crazy league this season and, when you slip up as a team, you look at the scores and see two or three other teams who you’d expect to win slipping up as well. It is so competitive amongst the teams in the league, positions are always changing and there aren’t many points between teams.

“You just need to be consistent and we need to get back to that, like we were earlier in the season when we were top. With any consistency in this league, you can shoot up the table and create a gap.

“As I say, it wasn’t long ago when we were at the top. The league is that close – if you get three wins on the bounce then you can be within touching distance of the lead. Our aim is to get to the end of January and be within touching distance of the top. From there on, anything is possible.”

United are currently without a win in eight matches across all competitions and, as such, are determined to get a positive result against Swansea. Smalling knows it will be far from easy against a side that has recorded three straight 2-1 wins over the Reds in the last two seasons.

“They are a team that has progressed, although recently their form hasn’t been great, but over the years they have finished consistently in the top half and they’ve always had players who can hurt you,” he said. “We have found it to be a tough game and it’s often just a single goal that decides the game.

“We won’t forget the game earlier in the season and the threats they caused. Obviously they will be looking for the win to get on a run, as we are on Saturday. But with us being the home team, we need to be on the front foot and start the game like we did against Chelsea. We need to prolong that for the whole match because I’m pretty sure most teams cannot handle that for 90 minutes.”