United ruled from start to finish but had been made to pay for no longer taking any in their chances with Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and Anthony Elanga no longer clinical in front of purpose.
The Red Devils remained fourth but edged just factors beforehand of Arsenal, who've 3 video games in hand. Before kick-off, both sets of players stood together with a sign saying "peace" in six languages alongside United boss Ralf Rangnick in reaction to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Rangnick also wore a "no warfare" badge, at the same time as there Ukrainian flags waved most of the crowd at Old Trafford. A four-1 loss at Vicarage Road when the perimeters last met in November proved to be the final straw for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's time as United supervisor.
United have simplest lost as soon as from open play in 20 games considering the fact that, however 9 of these suits had been draws as a star-studden squad has nonetheless struggled to healthy expectations. After hypothesis over the ability for Ronaldo to take over the captaincy from Harry Maguire, it was Fernandes who took the armband as the England centre-back turned into dropped to the bench.
Fernandes should have had a hat-trick earlier than 1/2-time as he fired too close to Ben Foster while one-on-one, volleyed off track from close variety and then headed over after Ronaldo seemed to were fouled by Foster inside the place.
Ronaldo has scored just once in 10 games, however become unfortunate as he hit the post early on and then saw a goal dominated out for a narrow offside decision. Elanga was United's saviour with a overdue equaliser to salvage a 1-1 draw from a disappointing overall performance at Atletico Madrid in the Champions League remaining 16 in midweek. The Swedish teenager became exceeded a begin ahead of Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford as a reward. He almost repaid Rangnick's faith as he poked simply huge after Paul Pogba's backheel placed him thru on purpose.
Sancho and Rashford had been thrown on in the final stages and the previous came close with an attempt that dipped simply too late as the sport entered stoppage time. But Watford could even have snatched a memorable double over United when Ismaila Sarr blasted a shot just extensive with the final act of the game. A draw edges Roy Hodgson's men to within three points of protection in 19th.
