For Watford to come away from Manchester United with no points seems harsh after they put in a very impressive overall performance. 

Head coach Javi Gracia rotated his defence ahead of a busy period that will see the Hornets play twice more in the next seven days, but all adapted to the first team well and Watford will feel that they might have been the better of the two teams on the day.

Here's how we rated the players' individual performances:

Ben Foster - 7

After the game, the goalkeeper admitted he was a spectator for the most part but a couple of decent saves, most notably from Anthony Martial's close range strike, kept Watford in the match. 

His urgency and distribution was decent as well, as he set the Hornets off on a number of forays forward on which the attackers might have done better.

Daryl Janmaat - 8

Going forward in the first half, few were as direct as Janmaat, but his attitude produced the best results. His cross to pick out Deeney for a header was only kept out by a decent David De Gea save.

Defensively he performed admirably as well and prevented Martial from getting too much joy down the right hand side.

Christian Kabasele - 6

Kabasele came into the starting lineup and looked good at moments of the game, as he put in crunching tackles on Marcus Rashford and cleared away the danger during one or two hairy moments.

However, he lost Martial for the second goal and was often guilty of pushing a little too far forward and leaving plenty of space for United players to run into.

Miguel Britos - 6

The Uruguayan looked strong and assured as he helped frustrate the Manchester United players in front of goal.

While he wasn't directly to blame for the first goal, he simply wasn't as quick as Rashford and paid the price for offering the England international too much room to manouevre.

Adam Masina - 6

The Italian has often failed to impress this season, but really stepped up his efforts as part of a good collective performance.

Going forward he offered help, while defensively he didn't look as far out of his depth as the Liverpool game earlier this season suggested he might be.

However, he will not be pleased with his part in the first goal as he trotted back and left Britos with all the work to do.

Will Hughes - 7

The midfield was where Watford really played well in this game and a big part of that was Will Hughes.

His work rate was terrific as he pressed Manchester United and forced them into a number of mistakes, while he was unlucky to not score in the second half.


Abdoulaye Doucoure - 8

To go to Manchester United and dominate the midfield is rare, especially when they have the likes of Paul Pogba and Ander Hererra to control the game.

Yet few would be in any doubt as to who was the better of the French midfielders on the day.

Doucoure was terrific in the centre and was at the heart of everything good the Hornets did. His wonderfully worked goal was a reward of sorts for his efforts, but he will feel hard done to for not leaving with at least a point.

Etienne Capoue - 8

The partnership Capoue has forged with Doucoure is wonderful to watch and against United the pair were really good.

Capoue's direct attitude led the Hornets to creating several chances, while he did a brilliant job of limiting the United midfielders' time on the ball.

Roberto Pereyra - 7

The Argentine has received criticism lately for not performaing as well as he did at the start of the season.

While that may still be the case, he looked a lot closer to producing the kind of performances Watford fans know he is capable of.

An impressive David De Gea save was all that came between him and a very good goal.

Gerard Deulofeu - 7

Deulofeu was busy and a real problem for the United defenders, but lacked the clinical side to his game he has shown in other matches this season.

His movement off the ball was great and he frequently found himself in possession in very good area, but more often than not chose the wrong option.

Troy Deeney - 6

While Watford had a lot of good possession around the penalty area the skipper looked a bit off the boil and not at his best.

He rarely gave Chris Smalling or Phil Jones too much to worry about and didn't take his chances the way some might have expected him to.

His dummy for Doucoure's goal showed a glimpse of ingenuity and creativity that was missing throughout the rest of the match.

SUBS:

Kiko Femenia - 6

After replacing Janmaat early in the second half, Femenia slotted in well and didn't do too much wrong.

He almost scored with an audacious strike from distance.

Andre Gray - N/A

Joined the game too late to make an impact.

Isaac Success - N/A

Joined the game too late to make an impact.