It was an uneasy outing for Manchester United, but in the end, they ran away with a lone goal victory over Brighton and Hove Albion.
An unfortunate Lewis Dunk own goal was enough to earn Manchester United an 11th straight home win and cut Manchester City’s lead at the top to five points ahead of their game at Huddersfield on Sunday.
Brighton had been the better team up until Ashley Young’s attempt from the edge of the area hit Dunk and looped over keeper Mat Ryan into the net.
Earlier, efforts by Anthony Knockaert and Pascal Gross could not yield any positive result.
Elsewhere, Chelsea owe all gratitude to Willian as the substitute scored a late goal to earn the Blues a 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Anfield.
Willan’s goal denied Mohamed Salah a dream outcome against his former club after the Liverpool winger had opened the scoring just after the hour with a close-range finish.
The goal was Salah’s 10th goal in just 13 Premier League games this season in what has been a superb start to the Egyptian’s Liverpool career.
Salah could even have won it for Liverpool in final minute but his powerful drive was saved by Thibaut Courtois.
Chelsea are unbeaten in their past six league visits to Anfield, a run stretching back to 2012.
In other matches, Crystal Palace defeated Stoke 2-1, Watford recorded an away 3-0 victory over Newcastle, while Swansea and Bournemouth played goalless.
Tottenham Hotspurs almost lost at home after West Brom took the lead four minutes into the game.
Spurs later discovered their rhythm to deny West Brom an important win at Wembley through Harry Kane.
The draw leaves Spurs 10 points behind leaders Manchester City and five behind second-placed Manchester United.
