Manchester United: Chris Smalling wants to redeem disappointing season with winning run

Manchester United defender Chris Smalling believes it is down to him to keep his place in the England squad travelling to the European Championships in France. The 26-year-old started in England's 3-2 win against Germany, keeping the likes of Thomas Muller, Mario Gomez and Marco Reus quiet for most parts.

He was also a towering presence in their 2-1 loss to Netherlands in the second of the double header friendlies scheduled for the international break. On 3 April, when United take on Everton, he will face the likes of Phil Jagielka and John Stones, both of whom are prime contenders to take over at the back for Roy Hodgson's squad.

Smalling believes that the only way to pin down a position in the England squad is to keep performing for the Red Devils, especially with seven games left in the season and also a run in the FA Cup where they have to play West Ham in the quarter-finals. The defender has conceded that the season has been very disappointing, given that they failed to get past the group stages of the Champions League and not contested for the title, but they still have a chance to make the top four if they win against the Toffees, which will take them to within a point of fourth placed Manchester City.

"Overall, the season has been quite disappointing but we have up to 10 games to go, depending on the cup, so we will give it a push and see where we go. Hopefully that leads into the summer because it's your club form that's going to dictate whether you start in the Euros or not," Smalling said, as quoted by the Mirror.

"You come off the back of the club form and you can see a lot of the Spurs and Leicester lads are producing very good performances for England because they're doing very well at their clubs. So to go to the Euros off the back of some club success this season would definitely drive me on," he added.