Manchester United got their 4th consecutive league win over Tottenham Hotspur for the first time since the 2009/10 season. Goals from Fred and Bruno Fernandes were enough to seal a 2-0 win for the Red Devils and move them 1 point behind 4th placed Chelsea. The highlight of the game came late in the 89th minute though when Portuguese captain Cristiano Ronaldo was seen walking into the tunnel with 4 minutes still left to play, perhaps a sign of frustration at not getting any game time in the game against Spurs yesterday.
The game took only 6 minutes to see its first shot on target when Fred’s long-range effort was tipped over the bar by Hugo Lloris for a corner kick. United were the more dominant side for the majority of the first half registering more shots and limiting Spurs’ chances to score any goals. Tottenham couldn’t seem to be getting a foot in and were getting outplayed in every department, having their goalkeeper and captain Lloris to thank for going into the break still on level terms. Erik Ten Hag’s half time team talk seems to have worked wonders as it didn’t take long for his squad to get off the mark, in the 46th minute, through Fred. It was Jadon Sancho who played the ball onto the Brazilian’s path for him to take a shot that would be deflected, unfortunately for Lloris who was caught flat footed and could only watch as the rolled into the net for a United 1-0 lead.
United were able to double their lead through Bruno Fernandes in the 68th minute with a beautiful curling volley past Hugo Lloris to double United’s lead. This comes after some brilliant work by Antony down the right flank before releasing a through ball for Fernandes who poorly intercepted the ball, and bounced around some bodies before being fired in by United’s captain of the night. The game would’ve ended 3-0 with a Bruno Fernandes brace but the Portuguese playmaker’s second goal was ruled as he was adjudged to have been offside before he slotted the ball home in the 80th minute.
Manchester United completely dominated Spurs in their 2-0 win yesterday against the London club, registering a season high of 28 shots in one match and registering 10 on target. Tottenham goalkeeper Lloris was inspired form and even tough he did concede 2 goals yesterday he cannot be faulted at all for his performance. The French goalkeeper kept out 8 of the 10 on target attempts he faced from the United attack, on another day those 8 saves would’ve won him a man of the match award.
There was more drama to be witnessed at Old Trafford when Cristiano Ronaldo was not substituted into the game. That visibly frustrated the Portuguese great and he was seen heading into the tunnel before the 90 minutes was up and that has caused some of his followers to question Ten Hag’s decision of opting not to play Ronaldo once again. However some pundits have questioned Ronaldo’s professionalism, decision and behaviour to leave the dugout before the 90 minutes is up, some calling it “disrespectful” and others saying it was ” unacceptable of Ronaldo to so”.
This isn’t the first time this season this has happened, the last time Ronaldo was completely omitted from an entire game was back against Manchester City when they lost 6-3 and Ten Hag claimed it was to respect the active legend’s legacy. The former Juventus forward has struggled for game time under new manager Ten Hag, despite him finishing as United’s top goal scorer last season. The media and the fans alike are eager to know what the situation is like between the player and his manager, after Ten Hag did say “I will deal with that tomorrow, not today, we are now celebrating this victory”.
At Anfield, Liverpool were able to build on from their victory against Manchester City, following with a 1-0 win against West Ham, courtesy of Darwin Nunez’s first goal at Anfield. Elsewhere, Chelsea’s 4-game winning run in the Premier League was halted by Brentford as the teams played out to a 0-0 draw at the Btech Community Stadium, Chelsea making it 5 clean sheets out of 5 under Graham Potter who is yet to taste defeat as Chelsea head coach.
