Manchester United came face to face with Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday in a game both sides were eager to win. Tottenham have recently been on excellent form beating both Chelsea and North London rivals Arsenal 2-1.
Redknapp’s blue and white army have played a huge part in the title race over the last week and have proven their determination to finish fourth after a disappointing defeat in the FA cup to Portsmouth.
Unfortunately they couldn’t quite beat last year’s league winners at Old Trafford as the match eventually finished 3-1. Portuguese Nani and veteran Ryan Giggs were this time responsible for Man United’s late winners. Spurs boss Harry Redknapp played it safe against the reds, changing his attacking line up and replacing Kabul for Assou Ekotto, and now the ex Portsmouth manager has been criticised for being too cautious in Saturday’s game.
The victory left Manchester United top of the premier league table on Saturday evening, two points clear of Chelsea and a further seven points clear of the gunners after they could only manage a draw with Spurs’ fellow fourth spot chasers Manchester City.
The first half was fairly quiet with neither side having many shots on goal. Wayne Rooney was once again absent from Ferguson’s line up and it seemed the reds were missing the striker after the opening forty-five minutes.
It took the hosts just over half an hour to have their first attempt on goal with Antonio Valencia ignoring a begging Berbatov for him to pass and eventually going for goal himself. His efforts were stopped by Heurelho Gomes as he made a low save across the goal.
Man United had a few more opportunities to go ahead in the first half however Patrice Evra couldn’t quite bury a cross despite Gareth Bale’s failure to cut him off. Evra wasn’t the only Man United player to have missed, with striker Dimitar Berbatov wasting some decent chances to put his side ahead before the end of the first half.
After playing against Arsenal, Ledley King was back for Spurs and despite being unable to train due to his injury-ridden knees the defender proved his ability to anticipate the threat posed by Nani and Evra.
There is no doubt that Harry Redknapp would have been far more impressed with the result after the first forty five minutes as a draw would have been enough for his club to stay in the race for Champions League, in comparison to Ferguson who was desperate for those three points.
Spurs started the second half well after Bentley crossed the ball into the home box for Defoe to chest the ball to fellow striker Pavlyuchenko, who struck the ball wide. There is no mistaking that Redknapp would have been thrilled for his team to have gone one up moments after the restart.
Man United were not about to sit back as Berbatov made a run for goal bursting past Assou Ekotto and supplying Evra with a back heel. The Spurs defender panicked and committed an unruly tackle on his opponent.
Assou Ekotto’s bad tackle resulted in a penalty, which was to be taken by Ryan Giggs. The experienced Man United player took the first penalty of his career only to find the back of the net and put Man United one nil up.
Not only did Giggs manage to score the first penalty of his career but also his ninth goal against Spurs. The Man United player has scored more goals against Tottenham than any other premier league team.
Shortly after the goal Ferguson made the decision to substitute Valencia and Evra due to injury. Redknapp also decided to substitute David Bentley in the 65th minute. Bentley was to be replaced by Aaron Lennon, who made his first comeback from injury against the reds in front of the watching Fabio Capello.
Lennon was not given much time to get into the game but his arrival on the pitch gave Spurs the chance to equalise. Ledley King made the score line 1-1 after meeting Gareth Bale’s corner with a firm header.
Spurs looked set to go on and win the game as Peter Crouch made an appearance and reinforced the side’s attacking options.
But with only ten minutes to go, United struck again as Macheda fed Nani who went on to chip the ball over an eager Gomes, who raced out of his area. The Portuguese star may never completely fill Cristiano Ronaldo’s boots but his chip over Gomes certainly broke the Tottenham side down.
Harry Redknapp was disappointed with the loss saying, ‘After beating Arsenal and Chelsea, then coming here to face a team without Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand, I am disappointed with the outcome’. The blues manager would have quite happily have taken a draw however Man United had more to give.
Moments later the game was all over after Giggs buried his second of the match. Wilson Palacios gave away a questionable penalty after he barged Nani just four minutes from time, and up stepped Giggs for his second ever penalty.
Once again Tottenham have played a part in the race for the Premier League title and briefly handed Man United the top spot with two games to go. The challenge for Spurs will now be to beat Bolton at home next week and then Man City who are just one point behind them.
By Rachel Thompson
TweetLike this article? Please like The Football Blog on Facebook: