Chris Smalling believes two hard-fought away victories is the perfect way for Manchester United to prepare for the return of the Champions League.
The South Londoner scored what proved to be a crucial second goal in a 2-1 win at Watford on Saturday evening, following on from a 2-0 victory away to Burnley before the international break.
Romelu Lukaku gave United the lead at Vicarage Road before Smalling volleyed in an impressive second – only for Andre Gray’s strike to give the visitors a nervous end to the game.
But, despite Nemanja Matic’s sending-off in stoppage time, Jose Mourinho’s side hung on to claim their first back-to-back Premier League wins of the campaign.
Now Smalling feels the players are ready to tackle the Champions League, with their group campaign kicking off away to Swiss Super League champions Young Boys on Wednesday.
Asked if the Burnley and Watford victories act as good preparation for European competition, Smalling told MUTV: “Yes it does.
“Getting two wins on the bounce and coming into a month where there are so many games, I think we are building momentum at the right time.
“We knew that Watford had confidence and we knew that if we didn’t get the third goal the last 10 minutes would be how it played out but we all dug in and knew we needed to win.
“When they pulled one back it was a bit against the run of play. But then after that, I think it was about digging deep.
“We knew we’d be deeper than we wanted to be, they chucked on another striker and it was a bit of clock-watching in the last 10 minutes, I’m not going to lie.”