Juan Mata has admitted that Southampton made it tough for Manchester United during Sunday's victory at St Mary's.

The Spanish midfielder scored United's third goal in their 3-2 win over the Saints, which moves them up to second in the Premier League table.

Mata has conceded that United could have started the contest better on the South Coast.

"In the first 30 minutes they were the better team, scoring a goal and creating several chances, but we could tie the score before half time," he wrote on Kicca.

"After the break, we had a better control of the game, Anthony [Martial] scored again and we carried on until I was able to complete a fantastic collective play with 45 consecutive passes. The assist came from the post after Memphis [Depay] shot and I could make the third goal.

"However, as I said afterwards, in the Premier League you have to fight until the end in almost every game. [Graziano] Pelle scored again for Southampton and they kept trying, but David [de Gea] was there to make amazing saves, like many other times in the last few years, and so we won. In short, it was an important and very special win."

United face Sunderland next Saturday.