Chris Smalling hails Manchester United defence

Manchester United's Chris Smalling has hailed his side's defensive strength as a key reason behind their recent good form.

United's 1-0 win over Reading on Saturday made it five league games in a row without conceding for the Red Devils as they edged ever closer to a 20th league title.

Smalling believes that the growing number of clean sheets is directly linked with many of United's defenders returning from injury, giving them valuable strength in depth.

"[The clean sheets are] linked in with all our defenders coming back now," Smalling told MUTV. "It's just Phil [Jones] who is struggling but I think he will be back soon and our strength is shown by the players that we have available.

"It wasn't a pretty game [against Reading]. It got pretty ugly in the second half and I think we were just happy to get the three points. That was what we needed and we got a clean sheet as well so we're happy with that.

"We knew what we had to do before City played, but [City losing 2-0 at Everton] gave us an extra incentive. We would like to have scored a few more goals but we stayed solid and got the 1-0 win."

United are currently 15 points clear of rivals Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table with just nine matches to play.