Watford almost pulled of a remarkable comeback against Manchester United in their Premier League tie, but the Red Devils managed to hold on for a 4-2 win at Vicarage Road courtesy of goals from Ashley Young (two), Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard.
With leaders Manchester City not playing until Wednesday night, Jose Mourinho’s men had the perfect opportunity to go within five points of the runaway leaders and they seemed to be on track to do just that as they raced into a 3-0 lead with barely 30 minutes on the clock.
United started in their now-customary 3-4-1-2 formation, with Romelu Lukaku leading the line with Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard in support. Paul Pogba continued to retain his place in midfield along with Nemanja Matic while Antonio Valencia and Ashley Youngs started as wing-backs.
Marcos Rojo, Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelof completed United’s three-man defence in front of David de Gea and after a nervy opening period, the visitors took control of the tie.
Young, whose deflected goal had given United a 1-0 win over Brighton on Saturday, scored a fine opening goal in the 19th minute. The wing-back took a touch to control Lingard’s pace and unleashed a smart half-volley which beat Heurelho Gomes at the near-post.
Martial and Pogba were causing the Hornets all sorts of problems with their powerful running and when the latter was brought down 15 yards from the box, Young stepped up to take the ensuing free-kick.
And the in-form Englishman’s swerving effort deceived Gomes to double United’s lead in the 24th minute, which would be trebled eight minutes later, when Martial coolly beat the Hornets custodian after Lukaku had set him up nicely.
Along with Burnley, Watford have been the surprise packages of the season, but for once Marco Silva’s side struggled to muster a response and such was the Red Devils dominance that they could have score a couple more before the break.
Gomes was in inspired form towards the end of the first-half, making a remarkable double save from Lukaku and Lingard to prevent the visitors from taking a 4-0 lead.
Mourinho took off Matic early on in the second-half and perhaps the Serbian’s absence proved telling as the Hornets enjoyed their best spell of the game.
However, United continued to look dangerous on the break but Pogba and Lukaku squandered gilt-edged chances and Watford would make them pay as the match drew to a close.
Substitute Roberto Pereyara bamboozled Marcos Rojo inside the box and as the United defender brought him down, referee Jonathan Moss promptly pointed to the spot. Troy Deeney, introduced in place of Andre Gray, stepped up and sent de Gea the wrong way with 13 minutes left to spark hopes of a comeback.
Abdoulaye Doucoure would then steer home Andre Carillo’s cross in the 84th minute to reduce the deficit but even as the Hornets poured forward in search of an equaliser, they left holes at the back which United managed to exploit to put the result of the game beyond doubt.
Lingard would dance past several Watford players before beating Gomes with a low finish four minutes from time to allow the travelling United supporters to breath a sigh of relief.
After Tuesday’s win, second-placed United have 32 points from 14 games and approach Saturday’s massive clash with Arsenal with plenty of momentum and will travel to the Emirates confident of securing three points.
City can restore their eight-point advantage at the table if they can beat Southampton at home on Wednesday night.
Watford remain in eighth place with 21 points but are in danger of slipping as they have a game with Tottenham Hotspur up next.