De Gea is pretty pleased with his performance

LONDON: Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea believes the ongoing season has seen him perform at his best at the Premier League club.

De Gea, who has been at United since 2011, has kept 21 clean sheets across all competitions this season and his impressive form has helped the club reach the FA Cup final and put them on the verge of sealing a secondplaced finish in the league.

“Yeah, I’m pretty pleased with my performance. It’s been a fairly complete, all round set of performances from me,” De Gea told Premier League Productions when asked if this season was his best.

“I’ve felt good, felt fit and in good form physically throughout the season. Let’s hope that these last few games to go before the end of the season continue the form, then leading into the World Cup, which is an important time for Spain.”

The 27-year-old Spaniard was named in Professional Footballers’ Association’s Team of the Year last week and is a favourite to win United’s Player of the Season award for the fourth consecutive campaign.

De Gea praised manager Jose Mourinho’s winning mentality for the club’s performance this season, but urged his teammates to build consistency if they are to challenge for the league title next campaign.

“At the end of the day, it’s down to ourselves – the players on the field... as a group, we’ve got to get that level of consistency and quality throughout the season,” he said.

United return to league action when they host rivals Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Southampton must give everything to win Saturday’s Premier League match against Bournemouth as they bid to escape relegation this season, manager Mark Hughes has said.

Southampton have won just five of their 34 league games so far and are four points behind 17th-placed Swansea City with four matches left.

A defeat by Bournemouth would extend Southampton’s winless run to nine league matches and leave the Saints on the brink of relegation.

“We need to go for it. It’s going to be a huge game for everybody connected to the club, and everybody needs to pull together and get us over the line,” Hughes told Southampton’s website.

“We’ll put a huge effort in. I’ve been pleased with the amount of effort they’ve put in, but we need winning situations and that’s what we’ll be looking for.”

Midfielder Oriol Romeu said the home match against Bournemouth was the “most important” of the season for the club.

“Every one of them is important for us to stay up. We want to give everything. We don’t want to look to the past and say we’ve left something in the dressing-room,” Romeu added.

“It’s important that we get that connection between us and the fans, so we can push onto together and get the points we need.”

Bournemouth are winless in their last four league matches and are 11th in the standings. – Reuters