England defender Chris Smalling says finishing in the top four on the Premier League standings is well in Manchester United’s sights.

The Red Devils claimed their 12th win of the season after defeating defending champions Leicester City 3-0 at the King Power Stadium on Sunday, through goals by Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Juan Mata.

The result meant that Jose Mourinho’s side has now closed the gap on fourth-placed Arsenal, who over the weekend suffered a 3-1 defeat against log leaders Chelsea, to just two points with 14 matches left to play this season.

The England international believes his side have the confidence to finishing in the top four on the Premier League standings this season.

‘Yes, it is. I think that’s our job to keep in there and keep climbing,’ Smalling told the Manchester United website.

The United defender insists the Red Devils has to continue with the aim of qualifying for the Champions League next season, starting with their match against Watford at Old Trafford on Saturday.

‘We’ve had a few opportunities to be able to close that gap [on the top four] and this time we took our opportunity and played really well, so we need to build on this,’ He added.

‘Obviously, we’ve got a home game next so if we can get the three points we can really do some chasing.’

The Red Devils have now gone unbeaten in 15 Premier League games, which is the longest run in Europe’s top five leagues currently after securing a third win of the season over the struggling Foxes.

Smalling says he agreed that it was almost the perfect result for the Reds after scoring three goals and keeping a clean sheet away from home.

‘Yes it is, they’re having a tough time but they’ve still got that pace up front and we really nullified them and it was a really good team display,’ He said.

The England defender admitted that although confidence is high following their impressive victory and all-round team performance, there is always room for improvement, as United ended a run of three successive draws in the Premier League.

‘I think after this game and the performance we can say that it’s high but until we get on a good consistent winning run I think it can get even better,’ He added.

Manchester United will next take on Watford at Old Trafford in the Premier League on Saturday.

Kick-off has been set for 17:00.