Manchester United pulled off a 2-0 win over league leaders Chelsea in a Premier League clash at Old Trafford on Sunday evening. Goals from Marcus Rashford and Ander Herrera were enough to see off a confident Chelsea team which came into this clash four points ahead of their nearest challengers Tottenham Hotspur.

United haven’t been the most clinical team at home but they put up a dogged performance to overcome a Chelsea team who have won 24 of their 32 league games this season.

With one eye on their midweek Europa League clash against Anderlecht, United made four changes as David De Gea donned the gloves and Ashley Young was given the captain’s armband as Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic both sat out the match. For Chelsea, Willian and Nemanja Matic made the cut ahead of Pedro and Cesc Fabregas as Asmir Begovic started in goal.

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The hosts took the lead in the sixth minute as Ander Herrera turned and ran at Chelsea from within his own half and passed it to Marcus Rashford who broke free of David Luiz and slid it past the onrushing Begovic.

It seemed that Jose Mourinho had given clear instructions to Herrera, Paul Pogba and Marouanne Fellaini to mark Eden Hazard, N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic out of the game as Chelsea failed to muster any momentum at all.

Chelsea had a single shot in the first half, which went off target as United shut shop effectively. As the second half started, Ander Herrera was at the centre of the action once again as the ball broke to the Spaniard, who took a shot on goal that was deflected by Kurt Zouma into the net past a wrong-footed Begovic.

Rashford and Herrera were massive for United as they put in their best performance of the season to beat Chelsea. They stay in fifth with 60 points, four behind Manchester City in fourth. Chelsea are on 75 points, with Spurs second with 71.