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.
The Premier League’s bottom team Crystal Palace won their first away point of the season after holding Brighton & Hove Albion to a goalless stalemate in a match lacking action on Tuesday.
It was the first time Palace had kept a clean sheet this campaign, but they also missed the game’s best chances, as home keeper Mathew Ryan made a fine double save to deny Christian Benteke and Wilfried Zaha in the 14th minute.
Brighton, who stretched their unbeaten home run to six games, were restricted to several half-chances in the opening 45 minutes, while Palace keeper Wayne Hennessey did well to parry a curling shot from Jose Izquierdo.
Former Palace striker Glenn Murray went close to snatching a late winner for Brighton when his header was cleared off the line by a defender, as the visitors were forced to hang on in the closing stages.
Meanwhile, Newcastle United looked to be heading for a fifth straight Premier League defeat until a Ciaran Clark header and an own goal gave them a deserved 2-2 draw against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns.
West Brom striker Hal Robson-Kanu scored on the stroke of halftime with a superb downward header, and winger Sam Field looked to have put the game out of reach with a deft volley 11 minutes into the second half.
Newcastle were thrown a lifeline when defender Ciaran Clarke reduced the deficit three minutes later with a towering header from a corner by Matt Ritchie, whose free kick was deflected into the net for the equaliser in the 83rd minute.
West Brom defender Jonny Evans was credited with the own goal but it appeared that team mate Salomon Rondon had backheeled the ball into the net to gift Newcastle the point that their spirited fightback richly deserved.