Tottenham 1, Manchester United 3
Edinson Cavani and Mason Greenwood combined to complete another comeback on the road for Manchester United – this time at Tottenham.
Embed from Getty ImagesUnited certainly had cause to complain after seeing Cavani’s opening goal ruled out by VAR for a foul on Son Heung-Min in the build-up, only to see the South Korean strike for Spurs minutes later.
The Reds were incensed and were level after a period of pressure after the restart, with Fred tapping in the equaliser after 57 minutes.
They could have taken the lead soon after that but Paul Pogba tried to showboat when put through by Bruno Fernandes only to make a mess of it before United finally got their noses in front 11 minutes from time.
Cavani came to the rescue with a diving header to put the Reds into the lead even though he almost ruined all that by heading against his own post as Spurs pushed for an equaliser before Greenwood added the cherry on top of another fine away day for United with a goal deep into added time.
The win closed the gap to Manchester City to 11 points, which could become 8 points with 6 games to go if the Reds win their game in hand but that gap was closed only once before – by City.
Defeat meant that Jose Mourinho had suffered ten league defeats in a single season for the first time in his entire managerial career.
Mourinho’s Spurs team have dropped 18 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season and sit 6 points behind West Ham in the final Champions League qualifying position.
United have gained 28 points from losing positions in the Premier League this season and look set to qualify for the Champions League this season with a 9 point gap to Chelsea in 5th.
Jose Mourinho was disappointed with the result for Spurs and was baffled by the VAR decision that deprived the Reds of an opening goal.
He said: “We didn’t deserve this result at all but we lost against a very good team.
“We were unlucky because maybe Pogba should have a red card for a foul against Serge Aurier.
“We played against a good team – a team that reacted with lots of good players – mentally and physically.
“They scored and had a good reaction
“We had great occasions to score a second goal but Henderson made a couple of great saves.”
On dropping points from winning positions – putting them in danger of missing out on the Champions League next season, Mourinho preferred to keep tight lipped, adding:
“It’s a concern, I know some of the reasons but I prefer to praise my players for their effort.
“We needed points and we didn’t get them. The players gave everything they had and deserved more than they got.”
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said that his players used the injustice of the disallowed Cavani goal, implying that the referee had been ‘conned’ for the VAR decision, as an impetus to go on and win the game after a poor start.
He said: “We started ike a team that had played in Europe.
“100% the game is gone if that’s a clear and obvious error. Its an error that the referee was told to look at it
“But it kickstarted us, the performance from there to the end was good.
“We played some great stuff in the second half – we couldn’t let that decision ruin a good season for us.
Solskjaer was full of praise for the movement of Edinson Cavani which brought them a fine goal which served as the platform from which to go on and win it.
He said: “Eddy showed us why he was a number 9, we had a team meeting and I said we had to use his movement properly.”
Solskjaer also addressed rumours that Cavani wanted to leave the Reds, adding:
“That’s up to Eddy, he’s not made up his mind yet.
“For a new lad who doesn’t speak English, it’s hard not be able to see people or have his family over.
“If he decides it’s just for this season well have been lucky to have him over here.”
United stung by injustice after goal disallowed following slow start at Spurs
Dean Henderson was recalled to the starting lineup after David De Gea started in United’s Europa League tie at Granada.
He was joined in the side by Paul Pogba and Edinson Cavani as De Gea, Fred, Daniel James, and Mason Greenwood stepped down.
The game kicked off after a 2 minute silence to mark the passing of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the taking of the knee in a gesture of solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement.
And Dier denied Rashford with a block after he tried a fierce shot after Cavani put him through with a cross after 17 minutes.
Spurs edged ahead in possession for the first quarter of the game where they effectively neutralised United who looked rusty after their trip to Spain and offered few options to trouble the Spurs backline.
The game was quiet until it all kicked off after half an hour where it burst into life until half time.
But United found a way through and Cavani slotted home after 34 minutes but Son appeared to be hit in the face by McTominay in the build-up which ultimately allowed Pogba to perfectly place a through ball to the Uruguayan who slotted home through the legs of Hugo Lloris.
The goal was overturned for precisely that foul after Chris Kavanagh was invited to check the replay by VAR and ruled out the goal for the foul – and McTominay was spared a second yellow card because it was accidental.
Kane swept the ball cross the six yard box, perhaps meaning to shoot, but there was no other player to turn it in.
Son, had a back post tap in after Kane found Moura who drove the ball across the box to the South Korean to finish with a single touch from 6 yards out after the move completely wrong footed the United defence with Victor Lindelof in particular flummoxed by the movement.
It was Son’s third goal against United in the Premier League this season – and his 19th goal of the season in all competitions.
Cavani was booked for a swipe on Joe Rodon which left the Welsh defender incensed as both went for the ball with United trying to come back into the game.
The game had certainly livened up after the disallowed goal with tackles and fouls flying in.
After the break United were on the front foot again and Shaw crossed for Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the right flank whose shot was saved by Lloris.
Pogba’s pass to Cavani was put out for a corner by Rodon with the Uruguayan waiting for the tap-in as the Reds continued to push for the equaliser.
McTominay’s long range curling shot was parried away by Lloris and Cavani drove in a shot which was saved by the Frenchman but Fred was there to tap in the loose ball from 5 yards out to level the scores after 57 minutes with the Red pressure piling up.
It was only Fred’s second ever Premier League goal and his first goal for United since a brace against Club Brugge in the Europa League last season in February.
Spurs fought back and Son forced a save out of Henderson after they committed players upfield.
They also brought on Moussa Sissoko for Giovani Lo Celso after 61 minutes but had to rely on another save from Lloris to tip away a fierce low drive by Bruno Fernandes.
Pogba fell over while trying for an extravagant backheel goal after Shaw’s cross was poked towards him by Fernandes with Dier completing the clearance as United put themselves into the driving seat.
Mason Greenwood was brought on for Rashford for the last 19 minutes but Kane was denied by a block from Henderson as he tried to squeeze the ball inside the near post.
And from the corner Aurier volleyed over the bar from an offside position after Lucas Moura pumped the ball back into the box.
Greenwood sent a drive into the side netting before Spurs boss Jose Mourinho made his second change with Erik Lamela coming on to replace Tanguy Ndombele with 12 minutes to go.
But Cavani finally put the Reds into the lead a minute later with a classic diving header after he got on the end of a cross from Greenwood after Fernandes had nutmegged Sergio Reguilon on the United right to pass him the ball – it was the 5th Premier League header out of 7 goals for the Uruguayan who has 8 goals for the season now.
Gareth Bale was brought on for Lucas Moura with 8 minutes to go to try and rescue the situation.
Spurs almost had a bizarre equaliser when a corner came in and was headed against the woodwork by Cavani after Pogba initially appeared to divert it goal wards for what could have been a very strange own goal.
Seeking to hold on to the win, Fernandes was withdrawn in the 90th minute with Nemanja Matic replacing him.
And with Spurs pushing up for the equaliser Greenwood helped himself to a third goal for United right at the end after Pogba slipped him through after skipping through two defensive tackles, allowing the young striker to shimmy past another defender before hitting a rocket which beat Lloris even though he got a hand to it.
GOALS – Tottenham 1, Manchester United 3
Spurs 1, Man Utd 0: 40. Son Heung-Min opened the scoring after tapping in from 6 yards out following a quick move started by Harry Kane which ended with Luca Moura driving the ball towards the South Korean.
Spurs 1, Man Utd 1: 57. Fred had a tap in to level the scores from 5 yards out after a great passing move which ended with Edinson Cavani’s close range strike being parried out only as far as the midfielder to level it for United.
Spurs 1, Man Utd 2: 79. Edinson Cavani got the goal he deserved when he converted Mason Greenwood’s cross from the right with a trademark flying header to put the Reds into the lead.
Spurs 1, Man Utd 3: 90+6. Mason Greenwood got the ball off Paul Pogba, shimmied, and blasted an unstoppable shot past Hugo Lloris who got a hand to the ball but could not stop it.
MATCH STATS – Tottenham 1, Manchester United 3
Tottenham: Lloris, Aurier, Rodon, Dier, Reguilon, Ndombele (Lamela 78), Hojbjerg, Lo Celso (Sissoko 61), Moura (Bale 82), Son, Kane
Tottenham Subs not used: Hart, Alderweireld, Winks, Alli, Tanganga, Vinicius
Booking: Sissoko 90+2 (foul on Luke Shaw)
Goal: Son 40
Man Utd: Henderson, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, McTominay, Fred, Rashford (Greenwood 72), Fernandes (Matic 90), Pogba, Cavani
Man Utd subs not used: De Gea, Mata, Diallo, Telles, Williams, van de Beek, Tuanzebe
Bookings: McTominay 18 (foul on Tanguy Ndombele); Cavani 41 (foul on Joe Rodon); Fred 48 (foul on Serge Aurier); Shaw 67 (foul on Serge Aurier); Maguire 70 (foul on Harry Kane)
Goals: Fred 57; Cavani 79; Greenwood 90+6
Referee: Chris Kavanagh