Manchester United defender Chris Smalling insists his side must now build on their first away win of the season, after beating Arsenal on Saturday.

The Gunners dominated the majority of the game but never took their chances at the Emirates. After Danny Welbeck and Jack Wilshere both missed numerous chances, United scored two through a Kieran Gibbs own goal and a Wayne Rooney chip.

Olivier Giroud did manage to pull one back at the end but United’s young defence held firm in the latter stages. Smalling played alongside Paddy McNair and Tyler Blackett and the three centre-backs managed to keep the London outfit at bay.

The victory lifts United back into the top four after a turbulent few weeks. Their attacking ability was on show with their two counter-attacking goals on Sunday and now Smalling has challenged his teammates to remain in the hunt for European football.

“Given the manager and the players we have got, we should be playing better than we are, with more points,” the England international said.

“But we have a good base now with an away win and now we can go back to Old Trafford and build on that.

“We showed a lot of character, we did not play that well and we will go through the video to see what we could have done better.

“We have two home games coming up, and we need six points, then we can have a look at where we are in the table.”