Tottenham Hotspur kept up the pressure on rivals Leicester City with a 3-0 win over Manchester United. The game looked like it would end in stalemate for most of the match but six crazy second half minutes gave Spurs all three points.
Dele Alli opened the scoring in the 69th minute after being put through by Christian Eriksen. Toby Alderweireld made it 2-0 four minutes later with a powerful header. And, Lamela applied the icing on the cake with a left-footed finish to ruin Louis van Gaal’s day.
Trending
Squads:
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris (C), Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Dier, Dembele; Lamela, Eriksen, Alli, Kane.
Manchester United: De Gea, Fosu-Mensah, Smalling, Blind, Rojo, Schneiderlin, Carrick, Mata, Lingard, Martial, Rashford
First Half: Neither side manage a shot on target
The kickoff for the game was delayed by a half hour due to a traffic jam in London. The United bus was stuck due to an accident that took place in the central part of the city which resulted in the game starting at 9:00 PM instead of 8:30 PM.
Leicester’s win earlier in the day meant Tottenham Hotspur had to win the game to keep up pace with the leaders. United were facing a challenge of their own. With noisy neighbors Manchester City winning yesterday, the Red Devils needed a win to stay within touching distance of the top four.
United started the brighter as Tottenham showed some of the sluggishness they had displayed against Liverpool last week in the first half as well.
The Red Devils controlled the early possession and were more threatening going forward but couldn’t create any clear-cut chances. Fosu-Mensah was looked the liveliest in attack for the away side.
The first clear-cut chance of the game came in the 27th minute and it fell to Tottenham after they had slowly clawed their way back into the game. Christian Eriksen as we have come to expect from him delivered a peach-perfect cross to Erik Lamela who was unmarked in the box but he missed his header from point blank range.
The home side continued to pile on the pressure as United started to fall back. The Lilywhites tried to press for the opening goal as they attempted to use the width on the wings but United were solid at the back.
As the first half came to a close no team could create too many clear cut chances as defences were on top. Neither side had a shot on target
Second Half: Three goals in 6 minutes ended the contest
The managers had the time to give their inputs as the two teams came out for the second half. With so much at stake for the clubs, a draw would just not be good enough.Only a definitive result would help either side in their quests.
Both United and Tottenham have the two best defences in the league and it was proving difficult to find the opening goal. But Eriksen finally registered the first shot on target in the game. His fierce shot from outside the box was palmed away by David De Gea.
The next chance fell to the visitors.In the 61st minute, Martial showed a great piece of skill to waltz past three defenders in the box and drive a close range shot but it was straight at Lloris who saved.
That missed opportunity proved to be the turning point in the match. Just eight minutes later, Eriksen sent a perfect pass to Alli who was through one-on-one and the youngster slotted calmly past De Gea to give them the lead.
But, that wasn’t the end of it. Four minutes later, Toby Alderweireld headed in Spurs’ second after a beautiful cross from Lamela to make it 2-0. And, the winger got himself on the scoresheet 60 seconds later, finishing wonderfully with a low shot into the bottom corner.
United just capitulated after the 70th minute in an absolute rollercoaster of a second half. Leicester might be top of the table but Tottenham are going to take this down to the wire, as they remain seven points behind, in second. As for the Red Devils, the loss comes as a huge blow to their top four ambitions, as they now trail Manchester City by four points.
