Manchester United netted four goals on the road - including two in six minutes from Ashley Young - to see off Watford and keep the pressure on rivals Manchester City.
United's third successive win in the Premier League reduced the gap at the top to five points, ahead of City’s game against Southampton on Wednesday night.
Jose Mourinho's men went ahead with the first shot of the match. Having seen his deflected strike go down as an own goal against Brighton at the weekend, there was no doubt that it was Young’s goal this time. Jessie Lingard picked out fellow England international Young on the edge of the area, who sweetly hit a right-footed half volley beyond Heurelho Gomes.
A little over five minutes later, Young grabbed his and United’s second goal, a direct free-kick curled beautifully into the top left-hand corner. The chance came after Abdoulaye Doucoure brought down Paul Pogba with a combination of a shirt pull and a poorly timed tackle. Up stepped Young to punish the foul and leave the home crowd stunned.
The traveling fans had only just settled down when Gomes was once again picking the ball out of the net. Romelu Lukaku was the provider, knocking the ball down to Martial for the Frenchman to strike home with his eighth goal of the season in all competitions - equalling his entire tally for 2016/17.
Young was no doubt picturing a first-half hat-trick when Adrian Mariappa fouled Martial in almost an identical position to his earlier free-kick, but this time he was unable to clear the Watford wall.
Jose Mourinho’s side would have gone in four up at the break if not for a fine double save by Gomes. Having been afforded both time and space, Lukaku drove an effort on goal and the resulting save looked to be falling kindly to Lingard, but by the time it had reached him, Gomes was back on his feet and impressively turned it over the crossbar.
The last action of an incident-packed first half was to fall to the hosts in the second minute of added time, Kiko Femina crossing to Richarlison, who headed onto and over the bar.
Watford substitute Troy Deeney pulled one back for Marco Silva’s side when referee Jon Moss adjudged Marcus Rojo to have brought down Roberto Pereyra in the penalty area. Deeney confidently finished from twelve yards as he sent David De Gea the wrong way.
Watford were back within a goal of United after Doucoure finished from inside the area, but any hopes of a comeback were short-lived when, two minutes later, Lingard dribbled forward from inside his own half and secured the points with a composed finish.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic came on for Lingard in the closing stages to make his 50th appearance for the Reds but a goal from the Swede was not required to seal the richly-deserved triumph.
There were jubilant scenes at full-time following Jesse Lingard's late wonder goal
Watford: Gomes (c); Mariappa, Prodl (Carrillo 58), Kabasele; Femenia, Cleverly, Doucoure, Hughes, Zeegelaar; Huges (Pereyra 58), Richarlison; Gray (Deeney 72).
Subs not used: Karnezis, Wague, Janmaat, Capoue.
Booked: Doucoure, Mariappa.
United: De Gea; Valencia (c), Lindelof, Smalling, Rojo, Young; Matic (Herrera 54), Pogba; Lingard (Ibrahimovic 88), Lukaku, Martial (Rashford 65).
Subs not used: Romero, Darmian, McTominay, Mata.
Booked: Rojo.
TALKING POINTS
Youngy's brace: Ash was frustrated on Saturday when his deflected strike against Brighton was ruled an own goal, but there was no debate about his two strikes at Watford. The first was an instinctive finish into the bottom corner, and the second a devastating free-kick from the edge of the box.
Injury for Matic: The Serbian summer signing appeared to pick up a knock just prior to his substitution early in the second half, and he walked straight down the tunnel. It remain to be seen if he will be fit to face Arsenal at the weekend.
Lingard's wonder goal: The Academy graduate almost ran the length of the pitch, starting just outside the United penalty area before jinking past three Watford defenders to slot home. It was a remarkable effort, which bore some resemblance to Ryan Giggs' classic against Arsenal in 1999.
What's next? The Reds have another away trip this week in the Premier League and will hope to extend the winning run, at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday (2 December) against Arsenal in the evening kick-off (17:30 GMT).
WHAT DID MOURINHO SAY?
“The second half should have been five or six nil to us – it was even easier to score goals in the second half than it was in the first, but we missed chances and this is football. Out of nothing there was a penalty, then it was 3-1 and the game was there. Then it was 3-2, the game was in the grey zone and then Jesse showed his fantastic initiative to kill the game.”