We huffed and puffed but Tottenham Hotspur simply couldn’t blow the Old Trafford (goal) house down.
A poor Manchester United side did enough to beat a less than average Spurs side but hey, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Isn’t it?
Snooze patrol
Moaning Mourinho’s men scored the only goal of the game after 30 minutes when Harry Kane’s misplaced pass was enough for Ander Herrera to take possession and low and behold, he played a through ball to Henrikh Mkhitaryan to hoof a shot past a stranded Hugo Lloris.
Chances were few and far between…now it time for the player ratings.
Player Ratings
Hugo Lloris 7
A couple of first half saves but Mkhitaryan’s powerful shot flew past him like a bullet. In fact I doubt he even knew it had been struck and before he knew it he was picking the ball out of the net.
Kyle Walker 6.5
Kept busy by United’s pressing attacks. Solid at times.
Toby Alderweireld 6.5
First full Premier League appearance since October and to be fair he didn’t exactly standout. He did however make one good turn and sprint to stop Mkhitaryan running clear in the second half. He appears to have fully recovered from his injury and it will no doubt take him a few games to settle into the swing of things.
Jan Vertonghen 6.5
One fantastic first half block to prevent Mkhitaryan from causing more misery but other than that he had little to do.
Danny Rose 6
The only notable point was when he was shown the yellow for a lunge on Mkhitaryan.
Victor Wanyama 6
Missed another sitter when he headed sideways rather than towards the goal following Eriksen’s free-kick. I nearly scored him 5.5 but having made some cracking challenges I decided against it.
Mousa Dembele 5
Did nothing to impress Poch and was replaced by Winks. Poor by his standards.
Christian Eriksen 6.5
Tested De Gea a couple of times and seemed likely to get us back into the game. Sadly it wasn’t to be!
Dele Alli 4.5
Last week he was blowing hot and against the Manchester lot blew stone-cold. Was out-of-sorts and didn’t impress me one iota.
Heung-Min Son 6
Played better and brighter, more than he’s done in a few week (during the first 45), just a pity he couldn’t continue after the break. Signs of a revival in confidence and determination.
Harry Kane 4.5
Looked sluggish and way off the pace. I also believe he was at fault for United`s goal – minced around the midfield and found it hard to make a decent pass.
Moussa Sissoko 7
Replaced Son (57 mins). Looked a threat straight from the off, injecting pace and passion. Pity he didn’t make the starting line-up.
Harry Winks 6
Replaced Dembele (67 mins). Tidy and impressive but didn’t have that cutting edge in attack. Join the club Harry!
Came on for Eriksen (83 mins). Fifth Premier League appearance off the bench since his move from Marseille in the summer. Unfair to add a score with so little time on the field.