Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal was delighted with their 1-0 win over Crystal Palace.
Juan Mata came off the bench to grab the winner.
"I am happy with the three points," Van Gaal said. "They came to defend and that is always very difficult to play as a team against.
"We had a lot of time on the ball, we created possibilities, not big chances, but possibilities.
"We could have scored in the first half but I said at half-time, 'Okay, we played better than the matches before because we kept the pace before and the opponents will tire and there will come a moment we will score'.
"It was Juan Mata (who did) and after that goal I think we created more big chances because then they had to come forward, only we have to finish these chances because they were big chances.
"But I said several times when we are ahead in a game we have to kill the game and we did. So I'm happy, we have three points and we are two points behind fourth place so it is in our hands and that's important."
