Jesse Lingard believes Manchester United's "massive" win over Watford on Saturday has sent a message to their Premier League title rivals.
Louis van Gaal's side took an early lead at Vicarage Road but Troy Deeney's late penalty looked to have snatched a draw for the home side in the closing stages, until the striker inadvertantly turned Bastian Schweinsteiger's cut-back into his own net in the 90th minute.
Lingard felt the match was an uncomfortable affair and says the dramatic nature of the victory has put more pressure on the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City, who both suffered defeat on Saturday.
"It's massive," he told the club's official website. "It's a bit of a statement to the other teams, who will look at this and see we've won. It puts a bit more pressure on them, but it's a good feeling to be back up there.
"It was a great way to end the game. I thought it was a scrappy match overall, the conditions didn't help, but we had to keep our concentration throughout and it's great to get the win.
"There are a lot of games coming up, we've got a lot of injuries at the moment and have to adapt to that, I thought we did that well today. As long as we win as many games as we can over Christmas, I think we'll be fine."
United are a point behind league leaders Leicester City after 13 matches.
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