“You can see that,” Solskjaer said when asked if that was one of United’s most complete displays under him. “Off the ball defensively we did excellent. The counter attacking was excellent. We would like to keep the ball more and keep them running more but when you get the 1-0, we still created big enough chances to win by more.

“We feel we are improving all the time. We know we lack one, two, three players to be considered a title contender and some experience. We know that. We are just going to start talking about going up the table, getting more points. Chelsea and Leicester are still too far ahead for my liking. For me it shows we are on the right track and improving and we are Manchester United and looking to catch the teams in front of us.

“That’s eight [clean sheets] in 10 and the two goals we conceded - one shouldn’t have been given by VAR for a moving ball against Bruges [in Belgium] and David’s [mistake in the 1-1 draw against Everton] so it is a foundation.”

United are expected to be busy in the transfer market this summer and Solskjaer can only hope future recruits make the sort of immediate impact of Fernandes, whom he said had galvanised the whole club and helped to create the sort of raucous atmosphere witnessed at Old Trafford on Sunday.