Manchester United have underlined their title credentials and all but extinguished Tottenham’s fading hopes with a 3-1 victory at White Hart Lane in the England’s Premier League on Sunday.
Wayne Rooney headed the Red Devils into the lead moments before the break after Tottenham had dominated the first-half, with Ashley Young grabbing a second-half brace before substitute Jermaine Defoe managed a late consolation strike.
The result moves United to within two points of leaders Manchester City and sees them navigate their recent tough run of fixtures well, having only dropped points in the 3-3 draw with Chelsea, when they had trailed 3-0.
Despite the comprehensive scoreline, Spurs certainly had their chances and dominated a lot of play, particularly in the opening 45. However they struggled for the final pass and didn’t take their opportunities.
Emmanuel Adebayor did have the ball in the back of the net after a close-range prod, but it was disallowed for handball. Louis Saha, who had fired the ball into Adebayor’s chest and hand, probably should’ve hit the back of the net.
Spurs boss Harry Redknapp said: “I couldn’t believe we were 1-0 down at halftime. I felt we were outstanding in the first half.
“We’ve all had days when you walk off thinking, ‘How did we win that?’. I’m sure Alex was thinking that today.”
Meanwhile, United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admitted the win was a touch fortunate, when he said: “I don’t know how you explain it. We certainly carried a lot of luck.
“It was a great performance by Spurs in the first half. Maybe we got tactics wrong. We had a bit of luck scoring right before halftime with our first effort on goal. That was a killer for Tottenham. We improved after halftime but it really needed the second goal to give us confidence.
“It was a massive result and a massive performance by our defenders. They have dug in and we showed the determination to get the result.’’