Nemanja Matic says Manchester United were aware of how important victory over Chelsea would be to their top four hopes, as he predicted they would overtake Frank Lampard's side come the end of the season.
United headed into the Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge trailing Chelsea by six points. Defeat would have given them a nine point gap to the final Champions League place as things stand.
However, goals from Anthony Martial and Harry Maguire meant United cut the gap to just three points, and Matic said after the game that he was confident of securing fourth spot at the end of the season.
Speaking to MUTV, Matic said: "Very big. We knew that if we lose here it would be a big gap between Chelsea and us, but after these three points I am very confident that we can catch that fourth spot and we are still in the race.
"So we are there, the Premier League is hard, Chelsea will drop some points between now and the end of the season. We have to use that, we have still hard games to play but I am very confident, very confident we can catch that."
United are seventh, with Wolves and Sheffield United between them and Chelsea. Manchester City's UEFA ban raises the possibility of fifth place offering a route into the Champions League, but they plan to appeal their sanction and United must operate as though top four is their aim.
So the win over Chelsea gives them a huge psychological advantage, especially given it was the third win over Lampard's side this season - something Matic saved praise for his teammates.
He continued: "Chelsea at home is always hard but we managed to deal with this pressure and win the last couple of games here at this stadium and let's continue like this."
