The winter break came at the right moment for Manchester United after the extra time off allowed them to perfect their set-piece routines, according to Nemanja Matic.
United are now just three points behind Chelsea after goals from Anthony Martial and Harry Maguire saw them walk away with a 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge on Monday.
Maguire's goal in particular stands out, with the £80million defender rising highest to head in a Bruno Fernandes corner to make it 2-0 in the second half – something that has brought much delight to the Serbian.
'Yeah, I think this is the first or second goal we've scored in the league from a corner, so I'm happy,' Matic told MUTV after the match.
'I'm happy because we worked a lot on that in the last few days. It's a strength for the future, now that we can count on goals from headers. I'm happy with the team performance and we have to continue like this.'
Solskjaer also confirmed that he was pinpointing Chelsea's weaknesses before praising Fernandes and Maguire for the goal.
'Before this game, we did have a little look at areas where Chelsea looked weaker and we felt that the back stick was for Harry today, and it was a pinpoint cross from Bruno,' Solskjaer told MUTV.
Ahead of scoring his first Premier League goal for United, Maguire appeared to be confident that all the hours practising set-pieces in training was about to pay off against Chelsea.
The United skipper messaged his brother Laurence to tell him that he would score from a corner before the game.
He said: I'm going to score around back tonight. Watch. In-swinging corner.'
Unitedforlife6
3
magic before you leave pass down the wisdom to the youth team
madcow
0
Absolutely proud of the boys! Bailly stepping up and the true partner to Maguire. People said Lindelof is the cool one and Maguire is the tough one BUT the truth is Maguire is the cool one and Bailly is the tough one. Bruno+Maguire link up was bound to happen. Fred is the new Kante who's more attacking. Matic now clearly understands Ole's playstyle and he looks way fitter now. Martial had an awesome header but needs to be more ruthless and stay as a traditional 9 rather than a false 9. The rest (AWB, Shaw, Williams, De Gea and James) all did well to cover the rest.
yobabcelmr
2
Harry turns to Van Dike whilst Rudigar turns to Harry
yobabcelmr
0
Harry turns to Van Dike whilst Rudigar turns to Haryy
kizoWilliams
2
i love this..you deserve the arm band
DaMhztourage
2
And the by-product via Maguire's headed goal was classic , don't slow down yet , just keep the momentum going for top 4 finish , we will surely get there
Wiuakoyz
1
what I like about Maguire is, he can push to attack.
Nberto
1
This is what we have been expecting from Maguire. We are happy is has started getting it
zogemsitlhou
3
Slabhead with a thunderous header for his first man utd epl goal. May it be the first of many to come. GGMU!
kidbemnp
2
le rock De EPL
hilariousval
4
To win is fun. To score as a defender even when others are calling for your execution and even went on to keep a clean record is Happiness. That's how we roll. Until they wake up from slumber, we might be above them in the league. UP MANCHESTER UNITED
Rhapsody337
3
congrats on Winning, but imagine what he might have said if they'd lost 😅