Ashley Young struck twice against his old club as Manchester United put their recent travel sickness behind them with a 4-2 victory at Watford to close the gap on Premier League leaders Manchester City to five points on Tuesday.
United, beaten in their last two away league games, began slowly but Young, without a goal for 18 months, struck twice in six minutes midway through the first half before Anthony Martial scored a third before the break to stun the hosts.
Watford made a fight of it after the break with substitute Troy Deeney scoring from the spot and when Abdoulaye Doucoure grabbed a second in the 84th minute it seemed the hosts could yet salvage something for their efforts.
Two minutes later, however, Jesse Lingard scored a superb individual goal on the counter-attack to settle United's nerves.
Second-placed United have 32 points with City, who host Southampton on Wednesday, on 37.