Spurs sink United with 3 goals in 6 minutes
3 goals in 6 minutes at White Hart Lane yesterday handed Tottenham a 3-0 win over Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United in a game that affected the race for both the title and top 4.
After Leicester’s win at Sunderland beforehand, Spurs went into the game with a 10 point gap between themselves and the Foxes to bridge, while United sat 5th, and 4 points behind Manchester City in fourth spot after they beat West Brom at home on Saturday night.
After a cagey first half, a rampant 6 minutes from Spurs gave them the three points, with United having no reply for goals from Dele Alli, Toby Alderweireld and Erik Lamela.
United might have sensed that it wasn’t to be their day prior to kick off, as traffic in London made their arrival at White Hart Lane severely delayed, and kick off had to be postponed by 30 minutes. Despite the hold-up however, Louis van Gaal’s men started brightly and had over 60% possession of the ball in the opening minutes, although they couldn’t translate that into any goal-scoring opportunities.
The biggest chance of the first half fell to Erik Lamela, who somehow managed to head wide unmarked from 6 yards after managing to get on the end of a clever ball from Christian Eriksen.
Kyle Walker nearly created another chance not long afterwards, breezing past Marcos Rojo into the box, but a crucial block from youngster Timothy Fosu-Mensah denied Spurs a clear cut chance.
Arguably United’s best chance of the game came from Anthony Martial in the second half, as he brilliantly beat 3 Spurs defenders but could only fire straight at Hugo Lloris from 10 yards out.
United were left to rue that chance as Spurs went goal crazy between the 70th and 76th minute.
First came one from Deli Alli, who got on the end of a pinpoint cross from Eriksen in the 6 yard box. The second came 4 minutes later, when Toby Alderweireld headed in from a Erik Lamela free kick on the left-hand side. And finally, Lamela himself struck a sweet finish to make it 3 from Spurs’ next attack.
It was an impressive performance from Spurs, but the reality is that Leicester are still 7 points ahead of them in title race with 5 games still to play, a lead that leaves Spurs praying for the Foxes to implode in the final stages of the season.
By Ben Kelly – @benkelly_10
