Seven Deadly Stats as Tottenham blow away Man United

Aditya Devavrat 09:13 01/02/2018
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    • Christian Eriksen's early goal set the tone in Spurs' win over United.

    The excitement ahead of Manchester United‘s visit to Wembley to take on Tottenham was all about new signing Alexis Sanchez making his Premier League debut for the club, having made his competitive bow last weekend in the FA Cup.

    By the end of the game, however, everyone had forgotten about Sanchez – apart from the Spurs fans at the stadium, of course, who booed him at every opportunity thanks to his Arsenal connection. Instead, the talk was of a dominant, buzzing Tottenham performance, as the home side were first to every ball, won all the 50-50 tackles, harried United players into submission, and generally blew the visitors away in a 2-0 win.

    Here are Seven Deadly Stats from the game.

    UNITED CAUGHT COLD

    Kick-offs are usually mundane affairs, with the ball most often moving backwards as the team starting off in possession simply trying to maintain control at the offset.

    It’s not entirely surprising, then, that the team not kicking off can be lulled into a false sense of security, or just take a while to completely switch on to the helter-skelter pace of the game.

    That’s what happened with United, and Tottenham pounced. A simple, sweeping move from the kick-off caught United out: long-ball, flick on, pass, goal. Christian Eriksen’s tap-in carved out a place in the record books.

    UNDERRATED?

    By now, everyone’s aware of Eriksen’s quality, and what he brings to Spurs. Yet he’s not quite talked of in the same breath as Mesut Ozil, Cesc Fabregas, Kevin de Bruyne, or some of the Premier League’s other leading midfield creators.

    Quite often, he simply runs the show for Tottenham. Then there are days like this, where he’s a key component of a smoothly-running, well-oiled machine, so he can pop up in the right places and score.

    It’s a lofty comparison, but that’s exactly how a certain United legend was described. Is Eriksen, not Fabregas, the heir to Paul Scholes?

    SPURS GET HELPING HAND

    Despite conceding the early goal, United looked comfortable, and were arguably the better side over the first 20 minutes or so. Then Alexis Sanchez showed the one weakness in his game.

    He’s a bundle of energy, he’ll harry opposition defenders with his manic pressing, and he even shows up in and around his own box to help out his defence. But tracking the opposing full-back with discipline and focus is not his forte. So it was that Spurs right-back Kieran Trippier found himself in acres of space, with plenty of time to pick out a cross. Phil Jones compounded Sanchez’s error by inexplicably attempting to clear the cross with his stronger right foot when the ball was on his left side, and instead sent the cross flying past his own keeper.

    It was the first own goal scored by a United player since May 2016.

    FELLAINI’S CURTAILED CAMEO

    As United chased the game in the second-half, substitutions were inevitable, especially as Spurs continued to dominate in midfield and offer the visitors’ attack barely a whiff of a chance.

    It looked like the disappointing Anthony Martial would be the first one to get hooked, but when the board went up, everyone was in for a shock: it was Paul Pogba coming off, with Marouane Fellaini replacing him.

    Just over seven minutes later, Fellaini was walking in the opposite direction, having taken a knock almost immediately after coming on.

    What’s the opposite of an impact sub?

    POGBA’S UNBEATEN RUN OVER

    Unsurprisingly given the gulf between the two sides on the night, Spurs ended up finishing the rest of the game largely untested, and indeed it looked likelier that they would add a third than that United would mount a comeback.

    So it proved to be as the home side closed out the game for a resounding win, with the 2-0 scoreline flattering United.

    It ended a remarkable run for Pogba, who hadn’t featured in a United league loss for over a year. And after his early benching, he certainly has a lot to think about ahead of the weekend clash against Huddersfield.

    IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE

    Spurs probably deserved to win this game by three or four, such was their dominance. Even Manchester City didn’t play this well against United in their 2-1 win at Old Trafford in December.

    In other games, Tottenham may come to rue fluffing their lines and not killing off a side.

    On Wednesday, however, suffice it to say that the numbers don’t lie. 21 shots to United’s 6, 17 chances created to United’s 4 – Spurs played their guests off the park.

    UNITED LOSE WEMBLEY MAGIC

    Manchester United have a long, historic association with England’s national stadium. The famed 1968 European Cup win came at Wembley, and on countless occasions since then, the site of the famous arch brought out the best in United sides.

    The last two visits to the stadium had brought moments of triumph, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic willing the team to victory in last year’s League Cup final and Jesse Lingard scoring a trademark howitzer to win the 2016 FA Cup. Those two games were part of a long winning run for United at Wembley.

    This time, however, the Red Devils will not have fond memories of a trip to one of their favourite venues.

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