Rasmus Hojlund fired Manchester United to a 2-1 win at Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League as Chelsea beat Astana 3-1 in the Europa Conference League.

Ruben Amorim's United side came from behind to best the Czech side thanks to a second-half brace by Danish striker Hojlund, provisionally moving to fifth in the league phase standings.

A top eight finish will see United qualify automatically for the round of 16, while finishing ninth to 24th will earn them a play-off tie to reach that stage.

Matej Vydra opened the scoring three minutes after half-time to stun United, before substitute Hojlund scored twice in the last half-hour to seize a vital three points for the English club.

The winner came two minutes from time when Bruno Fernandes cleverly slipped a free-kick into the 21-year-old's feet and he held off a defender before slipping home.

Elsewhere in the Europa League, Roma beat 10-man Braga 3-0 thanks to goals from Lorenzo Pellegrini, Saud Abdulhamid and Mario Hermoso to move to 12th in the standings.

Athletic Bilbao top the standings with 16 points after beating Jose Mourinho's Fenerbahce 2-0 on Wednesday courtesy of an Inaki Williams double.

Meanwhile, a much-changed Chelsea side battled the frigid conditions in Kazakhstan and won to all but guarantee a top-eight finish in the league phase, which would ensure automatic qualification to the round of 16.

"It was a solid performance," Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca. "We knew it was quite cold – we tried to adapt quickly. The players did fantastically with the weather conditions and long journey."

Chelsea sit top of the standings on 15 points, three ahead of Fiorentina in second and Legia Warsaw who lost to Switzerland's Lugano to break their perfect record in the competition. (AFP)