Tottenham 2, Manchester United 0
Pape Sarr and an a Lisandro Martinez own goal condemned a luckless Manchester United to a defeat at Tottenham.
Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou celebrated his first home game in charge of the club with a victory over Manchester United who had last season had been the only club in the top nine that the Reds at won at away.
There was plenty to be unhappy about for Reds boss Erik Ten Hag who watched his team fail to take their chances and, worryingly, were put to the sword in midfield once again even before he could complain about a dodgy non-penalty decision.
Fresh from an underwhelming performance at Old Trafford against Wolves on Monday the Reds were unchanged for the game against Spurs.
And United did have early chances in London through Marcus Rashford – who headed a good chance over the bar and a strong penalty claim when Christian Romero seemed to deflect Alejandro Garnacho’s shot from close range.
As they on Monday VAR chose not to intervene in the decision much to the anger of the United bench.
Dejan Kulusevski and Pape Sarr tested Andre Onana before Bruno Fernandes inexplicably headed wide after meeting Luke Shaw’s deep cross with just Guglielmo Vicario to beat.
United were rattled, and their midfield remained just as porous as Monday.
Pedro Porro hit the bar before Pope Sarr hit the post with a deflected shot off Shaw from the right as United struggled for fluency in the first half.
But Sarr made no mistake three minutes into the second half when he met Kulusevski’s cutback – which deflected to him off Lisandro Martinez – with a neat left foot finish from close range – his first goal for Spurs.
Antony hit the woodwork once again as the Reds continued to waste chances before Martinez seemed to foul Romero in the United box but escaped a penalty claim.
Casemiro saw his bullet header tipped over by Vicario before Spurs turned up the heat on the Reds – laying siege to the Reds goal.
But with 7 minutes to go till the end Ivan Perisic’s ball into the box was missed by Ben Davies whose air kick panicked Martinez into swiping at the ball and inadvertently diverting the ball into his own net.