Ole Gunnar Solskjær opted for five at the back following their shocking 5-0 loss to Liverpool last week, whilst both Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani started upfront hoping to benefit from Manchester United’s obvious game plan of sitting deep, to hit Spurs on the counter-attack. The hosts failed to take advantage of this however, allowing United to play out from the back under little pressure. It took 23 minutes for the first big chance to materialise and it fell to Tottenham’s Son Heung-min who could only blast his shot over from close range. Tottenham thought they had taken the lead a few minutes later when Cristian Romero turned the ball in at the back post, but it was swiftly ruled out for offside. United then made the ‘Lilywhites’ pay for not making their domination count, when Bruno Fernandes’ wonderful pass found Ronaldo at the back post, who sensationally volleyed the ball across Lloris to give United a 1-0 at HT.
Ronaldo was in again shortly after the restart, furiously smashing the ball home but for the second time this game a goal was ruled out for offside. United doubled their advantage just after the hour mark, Ronaldo turned provider putting Cavani through to exquisitely dinked the ball over the onrushing Hugo Lloris to make it 2-0. Tottenham looked shell shocked after another world class finish had undone them, and they failed to respond with any clear cut chances.
The victory was confirmed five minutes from time when Marcus Rashford broke beyond the Spurs defence to easily slot the ball into the bottom corner to give Ole a much needed victory before they travel to Bergamo on Tuesday to face Atalanta in the UEFA Champions League. The pressure is now massively on Nuno after losing three games in a row without scoring a single goal.
