Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial returned from injury to ensure Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first game as permanent Manchester United boss ended with victory over Watford.
The attacking duo struck either side of half time to earn a win in something of a smash-and-grab raid against a Hornets side who were the better team for much of the game.
Abdoulaye Doucouré pulled one back in the 89th minute, capping a flowing team move to claim a deserved consolation effort for the visitors.
Having missed England’s Euro 2020 qualifiers, Rashford was fit enough to be included form the start, while Martial made his first league start since early February.
Javi Gracia made five changes to the Watford side that had booked their place at Wembley with FA Cup success against Crystal Palace, with first choice ‘keeper Ben Foster among those to return.
The former England man was a spectator for much of the opening half hour, as the visitors caused United all sorts of problems, with front two of Troy Deeney and Gerard Deulofeu looking lively.
It was typical then, that Foster’s first significant involvement was to pick the ball out of his own net, as Luke Shaw launched a brilliant counter attack with a stunning curled ball in behind for Rashford, who finished calmly to take his league goal tally into double figures for the season for the first time in his career.
The goal sparked some life into what had been a lethargic United display, and Martial would have made it two from close range, were it not for an instinctive stop from the legs of Foster.
As they had done at the start of the first half, Watford began the second period with a spell of dominance, and were almost level when Deeney bullied Nemanja Matic off the ball in his own box and Will Hughes curled just wide.
Solskjaer sent on Jesse Lingard and Andreas Pereira to try and wrestle back control, and it was the England man who made the difference, squaring for Martial to score from close range, after he and Foster had collided challenging for the first ball.
There was a nervy ending at Old Trafford when Doucoure pulled one back late on but United held on to move back into fourth place ahead of Arsenal - who are in action against Newcastle on Monday.
