Chelsea defender Gary Cahill has refused to accept responsibility for Manchester United's second goal during this afternoon's 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford.

Ander Herrera gave the hosts a cushion early in the second half with a shot that deflected off Kurt Zouma and past Asmir Begovic as Chelsea fell to their second defeat in their last four games to breathe new life into the title race.

Questions were asked of Cahill in the build-up to the goal, though, with the England defender focusing on helping Jesse Lingard to his feet inside the area while the ball was still in play around the box.

The 31-year-old was heavily criticised by pundits for tending to Lingard instead of ensuring that the danger was cleared, but Cahill does not believe that his actions had any impact on the events that followed.

"How can it be down to me? I just don't understand this. After the situation with Lingard happened, the ball has been cleared out of the area, come back in again, cleared again and then a shot has come in from the edge of the box. I was on the left hand side of [central defence], but the ball deflected off a couple of Chelsea players and went in. What could I have done differently?" he told the Evening Standard.

"I always reflect on goals and will do so again, but I'm not sure what picking him up had on the goal. In hindsight I wish I hadn't done it, but that was the way I reacted. I just want to clarify things because people love to pick up on incidents that aren't really relevant in the game. All I can be is honest. My natural instinct was the ball came in and I grabbed him with my arm.

"I felt there was a slight chance he could get a penalty, it wasn't me being Mr nice guy by lifting him back up again. Listen, I'd do absolutely anything to win, from now until the end of the season. The pure instinct was worrying about the penalty and I wanted him to get back on his feet as quickly as possible so the referee didn't think otherwise. In hindsight it probably looks a bit silly on TV, but I can only react to my instinct and that's what I did. I wanted to make sure no penalty was given."

Chelsea's defeat means that they are now only four points clear at the top of the Premier League table having begun the month with a 10-point lead over Tottenham Hotspur.