Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford's superb run of form continued as he netted a goal in each half of his side's 3-0 Premier League win over Leicester City on Sunday to extend his scoring streak to five games.
It was exactly what his side needed as they weathered an early storm from the visitors, with keeper David De Gea pulling off a superb save to deny Harvey Barnes in the eighth minute and topping that with an even better effort to keep out a Kelechi Iheanacho header.
Leicester were left to rue those near misses when Rashford latched onto a pass down the right from Bruno Fernandes and rifled the ball across keeper Danny Ward and into the net after 25 minutes at Old Trafford.
United midfielder Marcel Sabitzer was lucky to remain on the pitch after a dangerous challenge left Leicester's Wout Faes needing treatment, with the Austrian, who is on loan from Bayern Munich, escaping punishment altogether.
United were a different side after the break, Lisandro Martinez hitting the crossbar in the 49th minute with a header and Rashford going close after another run and shot as Leicester lost their composure.
England international Rashford bagged his second in the 56th minute, cutting in from the left and tearing into the box before guiding the ball home to register his 14th league goal of the season and 25th in all competitions.
Substitute Jadon Sancho added a brilliant third five minutes later when Martinez won the ball in midfield to allow Rashford to feed Sancho, who played a quick exchange of passes with Fernandes before drilling home.
Leicester rang the changes in an effort to get back into the game but United continued to have the better chances, with Sancho and Wout Weghorst spurning good opportunities to add a fourth.
United moved on to 49 points, three behind second-placed Manchester City after 24 games and five adrift of leaders Arsenal, who have played a game less. Fourth-placed Newcastle United trail Manchester United by eight points.
"We're close, but both teams in front of us are good teams and playing good football. We have to just focus on ourselves, do as well as we can and keep picking up points," Rashford told Sky Sports.
With a second-leg Europa League game against Barcelona and a League Cup final against Newcastle United coming up, United fans will be hoping Rashford's prolific run continues.
"It's still early in the season, we're fighting for a lot of different things," Rashford said.
"We have another big game in the week (against Barcelona) to hopefully go through to the next round of the Europa League and then a massive game for us (in the cup final)," he added.
Tottenham move up to fourth with 2-0 victory over West Ham
Tottenham Hotspur moved into the Premier League's top four as they returned to form with a 2-0 home win over West Ham United that left their London rivals in the bottom three.
There was little to separate the sides in a forgettable first half but Spurs stepped up the pace after the interval with goals by Emerson Royal and substitute Son Heung-min.
It was a big win for Tottenham following defeat at Leicester City and a midweek loss away to AC Milan in the Champions League and allowed them to leapfrog Newcastle United in the table.
Right back Emerson marked his 50th Premier League game by opening the scoring in the 56th minute from a Ben Davies pass.
Son, who has struggled for form this season and was left out of the starting lineup by Spurs' stand-in manager Cristian Stellini, then linked with Harry Kane to double the advantage.
West Ham had started the derby brightly with Jarrod Bowen wasting an early chance but offered little and have now won only once in their last 11 league games with pressure mounting on manager David Moyes.
Tottenham have 42 points from 24 games, one more than Newcastle who have a game in hand. West Ham are in 18th with 20 points from 23 matches, a point below the safety zone.
