Marcus Rashford scores the only goal

• Manchester United have overtaken Tottenham Hotspur to return to the Premier League’s top four
• Marcus Rashford capitalized on the only goal of the game when he converted Marcel Sabitzer’s drop
• Brentford had their chances but found a barrier in the form of Man United goalkeeper David de Gea

Redemptionkind of for Manchester United. For Newcastle on Sunday, but above all for that terrible defeat at Brentford in August.

There must have been times when the mere mention of Thomas Frank made Erik ten Hag break out in a cold sweat.

Credit to the United manager and his players, they got off the floor and have made this a very promising season.

Possibly quite long as well. It was the 48th game of a 65-game campaign and United were showing signs of fatigue long before they lost on Tyneside at the weekend to drop out of the top four.

Victory at Old Trafford on Wednesday night moved them back up to fourth, although still behind Newcastle thanks to an ever-increasing goal difference.

You could hardly call it revenge for Brentford’s 4-0 defeat in Ten Hag’s first away game, but it at least gave the Dutchman some closure and a much-needed win.

United came into the game in danger of going four league games without a goal for the first time since April 1989. The wait had stretched to 326 minutes when Marcus Rashford reached his 28th of the season.

Where would United be without Rashford? Considerably lower down the table, there. Mathematically, his goals have been 15 points, but the Englishman brings a lot more to the table for this United team.

There was no doubt about the final result when he was given a clear opportunity in front of goal in the 27th minute.

It came from Jadon Sancho’s corner, one change from Sunday’s 2-0 defeat on Tyneside, with the Ten Hag finally opting to rest Wout Weghorst.

The on-loan Burnley forward has started all 19 games since making his Crystal Palace debut in January and has a tendency to divide opinion.

For some, he is the ultimate team player. For others, he is simply not good enough for United.

Sancho turned over the corner from the right and Ethan Pinnock headed clear to the edge of the box where Lisandro Martinez was waiting.

Martinez cut the ball back to Marcel Sabitzer, who had caught three defenders the wrong way.

Strangely, none of them saw fit to pick out Rashford and Sabitzer nodded the ball down to his team-mate who was never going to miss from close range.

It was enough to see off Brentford, who suffered just their second defeat in 17 Premier League games.

The Bees have been excellent this season, but they may regret not showing more ambition until the second half against a United side still slightly below their best.

They started the game slowly and ended it sitting rather uncomfortably with a one goal lead.

The Ten Hag lost Luke Shaw to injury before half-time and the return of Casemiro, who will contest his four-match ban when Everton visit here on Saturday lunchtime, cannot come soon enough.

David de Gea needed an excellent save to deny Kevin Schade in the second half, but the Spaniard’s difficulties with the ball at his feet are becoming a real concern.

Newcastle targeted De Gea’s short goal kicks at the weekend and when he exchanged passes with Martinez in the 49th minute and tried to clear his line, Ivan Toney blocked the ball which flew wide of the net.

But United’s performance was still a vast improvement on their woeful display at the Gtech Community Stadium in August. Penalties imposed by Ten Hag will not be held at Carrington on Thursday.

It had been eight months since the new manager made a painful walk to the dressing rooms after United scored four goals at half-time.

Seven of the line-up that started at Brentford returned to work here and there was more than a hint of reconciliation after Ten Hag admitted his side had slipped back into bad habits at Newcastle.

It soon became clear that it was going to be a busy night for Brentford’s defense as United dominated a one-sided first half in the rain in Manchester.

But it still took them almost 20 minutes to fire their first shot in anger and almost half an hour to score through Rashford.

Sabitzer scored his first attempt with a free kick that glanced straight at Toney’s head.

Scott McTominay then fired a sweet volley over the bar from Antony’s rebound and the Brazilian tried his luck with a trademark shot that curled just wide with his left foot.

However, Brentford fought back after the break. After Toney almost embarrassed De Gea, two of the three substitutes sent on by Frank came close to equalizing.

Shandon Baptiste saw his effort well smothered by McTominay and Schade fired home through Raphael Varane’s through ball. The German is disappointed not to finish but De Gea came out to make a crucial block and was injured in the process.

It was enough to see United over the line as they returned to winning ways in the league just when it looked like they were running out of steam.

They still haven’t found the top, but Ten Hag takes this one.