Jose Mourinho relieved Manchester United held off Watford's late fightback... and avoided a collapse like Liverpool suffered against Sevilla

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Jose Mourinho felt his Manchester United side learned a valuable lesson at Vicarage Road as they had enough chances to score eight goals and avoid their late scare.

United did not waste their chance to close the gap to rivals City and are now five points off the Premier League leaders but Watford threatened a comeback.

Two Ashley Young screamers and an Anthony Martial strike gave United a 3-0 lead at half time before Troy Deeney and Abdoulaye Doucoure set up the nervy finish.

Jose Mourinho was relieved his side held on to take all three points against Watford on Tuesday

Abdoulaye Doucoure sparked hopes of a dramatic three-goal comeback from Watford

A fine Jesse Lingard solo goal in the 86th minute completed the scoreline but Mourinho said: ‘I prefer to forget the five minutes where we conceded the goals and lost concentration.

‘I prefer to focus on all the good things we did. So much in control, really dangerous in attacking situations to play away from home and score four goals, but possible to score seven or eight.

‘We had chances for 4-0, 5-0, 6-0 – we had that in the first half. We finished the first half with a chance from an open goal. We had more in the second half, again and again. And we didn’t score.

‘Watford gave us a couple of minutes where they felt anything could happen. This is football. Last week, Borussia Dortmund-Schalke, 4-0, 4-4. A couple of weeks ago, Liverpool (at Sevilla), 3-0, 3-3. That’s football.

‘Maybe it is a good lesson. It is good to have a lesson without losing points. The next time we are winning 2-0 or 3-0, I think the players will remember this.’

United's rivals Liverpool threw away a three-goal lead against Sevilla earlier this month

But Jesse Lingard ended Watford's hopes of a comeback with a brilliant solo goal late on

United would have won by more, were it not for poor finishing from Romelu Lukaku, who is lacking confidence after scoring only once in his last 11 appearances.

Mourinho joked about Lukaku needing to find a boot deal afterwards as he said: ’At this moment he doesn’t have a contract with any brand. That’s why he’s playing with black boots.

‘I think he needs a brand to give him the right boots and to pay him the right money so he goes back to goals. But jokes apart, he works amazingly well.’