Manchester United manager José Mourinho has stated he is "very happy" for his players after the Reds put in their performance of the season with their 2-0 victory over title favourites Chelsea.

Everyone did what they needed to do

United fans wouldn't have expected much going into this clash having been disappointed once again on Thursday night with the draw in Anderlecht, and even more so having seen the line-up which saw star striker Zlatan Ibrahimović been left on the bench.

It proved a masterstroke as United dominated from the first whistle. Marcus Rashford opened the scoring early on which was followed by Man of the Match Ander Herrera's deflected strike at the beginning of the second half.

Antonio Conte's side looked a shadow of themselves with the Blues failing to register a shot on target for the first time in almost a decade, and Mourinho admitted that the result was important in their quest for Champions League football.

"I think everyone did what they had to do," Mourinho told Sky Sports. "Everybody fought really hard."

"But I am really happy with the team and the results," the coach stated. "Because the Manchester City and Liverpool results left us in the position of needing to win."

"Not even a draw would be a good result for us so I am really happy for the boys and for us," Mourinho added. "Because we keep two windows open to try to play Champions League football.”

Can't give up just yet

The three points will be a massive boost in their ambition of reaching the top four, but focus will now be on the Europa League when they welcome Anderlecht to Old Trafford on Thursday for the second-leg of their quarter-final clash.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan's away goal seems to be enough to set them up with a place in the last four, they will also look to close ground on rivals Manchester City at the weekend.

The gap currently stands at four points ahead of Sunday's trip to Burnley, with City's involvement in the FA Cup could be closed to one ahead of their clash at the Etihad Stadium and Mourinho stated that they can't give up on their league ambitions just yet.

"I can't give up on the Premier League yet," he admitted. "We have to try."

"If one day we are in the Europa league and the distance in the Premier League is too big," Mourinho concluded. "Then we have to prioritise and nobody can criticise us if we do things in a different way for the final few matches."

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Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.