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We are coming after you!

That’s the message to City from the United camp.

The Reds have come up on the blind side and have the Blues in their sights and the hunt is on to dislodge their Manchester neighbours from second spot in the League.

The Reds moved to within just two points of the Blues after Louis van Gaal’s side beat Spurs on Sunday while Manuel Pellegrini’s City side were beaten 24 hours earlier at Turf Moor against Burnley.

Arsenal are sandwiched between the two Manchester clubs but Old Trafford defender Chris Smalling has targeted City in the run-in.

“It is all very close. There is only a point between us and Arsenal and I think it’s very open all the way up to second place and we will be aiming for that.

“We want Champions League football back here. It’s a must. Fourth is the minimum but when it’s there, second is a realistic target and if we keep on performing like we did against Spurs I don’t see why we can’t give it a good push.”

Louis van Gaal’s side motor on to Merseyside on Sunday to face Liverpool then an Old Trafford warm up game against Aston Villa before the post-Easter back-to-back showdowns with City and Chelsea.

But Smalling says the United squad is now bouncing after the Spurs win.







“The Spurs success will serve us good. Confidence will be good ahead of Liverpool which is one of the biggest games of the season and hopefully we can play like that again.

“At times in the season we have done it for 60 minutes or 45 but in Sunday it just clicked for the whole 90. Everyone is happy. We have been after that for a little while and it’s took a little bit longer but against Spurs I thought we thoroughly deserved it.

“It was our best of the season. From the start we had a cagey five minutes but we took our chances and it was very comfortable. We won the game, then controlled it in the second-half and did a professional job.

“We are always aiming for that kind of performance and we all thought that despite the result against Arsenal in the FA Cup. It just clicked.

“We knew how big the game on Sunday was. You talk about six-pointers... these games coming up are all pretty much six-pointers where we can do ourselves a favour and do our rivals big damage as well. Spurs was the first step.

“It was the perfect time to put in a performance like that, especially with our run of fixtures. I think we can do ourselves a lot of favours but then I think we can obviously with the teams around us, these are like six-point games so we have got a lot to play for. We can do ourselves a lot of good.”

There was an added international bonus for Smalling.

The 25-year-old produced one of his most accomplished individual displays of the campaign for Louis van Gaal and England coach Roy Hodgson was in the stands at Old Trafford ahead of naming his squad on Thursday for the upcoming matches against Lithuania in a Euro 2016 qualifier at Wembley on March 27 and a friendly against Italy in Turin four days later.

Smalling was reunited in the centre of the Reds defence with Phil Jones and he believes their Tottenham form could stand the former England Under 21 partnership in good stead with central defensive berths still up for grabs for the Three Lions.

“If we can produce performances like that and if we can get a good run of games that will serve us good hopefully for when we meet up with England.

“I think Phil and I could play together for England. I was saying after the game me and Phil, it’s been a little while since we played together - probably not since last season. We know what each other’s games is. We understand each other’s games.”

Click below to see how United fans rated the players against Arsenal