Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag has praised his players for their second-half performance against Leicester City in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.

The Red Devils were 3-0 winners over Leicester at Old Trafford, with Marcus Rashford scoring twice and Jadon Sancho also registering for the home side, who have moved to within five points of division leaders Arsenal.

However, the Foxes were much the better side in the first period, with Man United goalkeeper David de Gea making two excellent saves to keep out efforts from Harvey Barnes and Kelechi Iheanacho.

Ten Hag has said that his team were "rubbish" in the first half against Leicester, but the Dutchman was delighted with the final result against Brendan Rodgers's side.

"We're happy with the result, it's a great result. When you play every third day you can't always get to your same performance. Today was really tough," Ten Hag told Sky Sports News.

"First half Leicester played brilliant, we were rubbish, the way we were really undisciplined. We had problems and it was only because of David de Gea that we had a clean sheet at half-time.

"Luckily we had half-time, we could repair some things and the second half was brilliant. There was a lot of pleasure, it was enjoyable to watch how we created so many chances and scored great goals."

Ten Hag, meanwhile, played down talk of a possible title race, insisting that he was only focusing on next Thursday's Europa League knockout round playoff second leg with Barcelona.

"We don't think about the title race. We think about the next game, Thursday is going to be a big game for us. We have to fight, our fans to make Old Trafford a fortress and the game plan has to be right," he added.

The Man United head coach also praised Rashford and Sancho for their displays against the Foxes.

"He (Rashford) is getting in the positions but don't forget the team. I want to highlight Bruno [Fernandes] again. Two great assists. There are so many players that can pass him [Rashford] the ball in the right moment like Bruno, Jadon, Fred," said Ten Hag.

"He (Sancho) is in the right direction. He does not know his limits and there's a lot of space for improvement, though already he is at a high level."

Man United will welcome Catalan giants Barcelona to Old Trafford next week, with the two teams level at 2-2 following the first leg of their Europa League knockout round playoff at Camp Nou.