Park - Early goals settle us

Ji-sung Park: The South Korean winger feels Manchester United are hitting form just at the right time

Ji-sung Park says that early goals like the one he struck against Wigan on Boxing Day always help Manchester United settle down and play their best football.

The South Korean, who netted after only eight minutes against the Latics at Old Trafford, sparked a second successive 5-0 win for the champions following last week's five-star display at Fulham.

It was Danny Welbeck on that occasion, opening the scoring after five minutes, who set United on their way with an early strike and Park is in no doubt as to the importance of starting games well.

"Early goals make us more confident and energetic for the rest of the game," Park told MUTV. "We always try to keep going and stay concentrated. Early goals help that a lot.

Strong squad

"Quite a few players changed against Wigan compared to the last game, but we still kept up the same performance as we did against Fulham. It's good for the team and it proves that our squad is strong."

The 5-0 success over Wigan was particularly sweet for United given that leaders Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool all dropped points.

And Park believes the Red Devils are starting to find the right levels of performance which will see Sir Alex Ferguson's men end the season in typically strong fashion.

"We always try to perform in this period of the season and we're just trying to make our performance higher," said Park. "We're still only halfway through the campaign and we will continue to press City."

Second-place United now trail table-toppers Manchester City only on goal average.