Manchester United vs Brighton and Hove Albion - 5 key talking points
Score: Manchester United 1 - 0 Brighton & Hove Albion
Goalscorers: Lewis Dunk OG (Ashley Young's shot - why not give it to him and make both happy, I'll never know)
Manchester United maintained their brilliant home record by squeezing past a dogged Brighton & Hove Albion side that stood toe-to-toe with United for large parts of the game - creating plenty of chances and exchanging supremacy along the flanks with the ease of an established Premier League team.
At the end of the day, though, it was three points... and the gap closed to City (now 5 points, though the Cityzens play tomorrow, against Huddersfield Town)
Here then are the five key talking points from the tough outing for United -
#5 Victor Lindelof shows what all the fuss was about
The Swede took considerable flak for the nervous, jumpy, performance he put in at Huddersfield (his mistake, of course, allowed Laurent Depoitre to score what turned out to be the game-winning goal for the Terriers) and the media - and twitter - naturally jumped on his, and United's, back slamming the incredible price he was signed for and moaning the inability of young English players to make the first team of big clubs due to such failing big-money signings.
Today he showed exactly why that is just a crock of nonsense. Composed, calm on the ball, solid in the tackle (a particularly thunderous challenge on Anthony Knockaert stood out) he also highlighted the failings of Chris Smalling - the archetypical blood and thunder English center-back - alongside him. If Eric Bailly, Phil Jones, and Marcos Rojo are all fit, Smalling will find himself fifth-choice and has no one to blame but himself