Cristiano Ronaldo came to the rescue of the troubled Manchester United Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer patted the visitors on Saturday tottenham 3-0 to restore pride after their humiliation by Liverpool. United arrived in London smartly after a 5-0 home defeat by their arch-rivals last week, sparking a round of speculation over the Norwegian boss’s future. But Ronaldo’s brilliant first-half strike, a clever finish from Edinson Cavani and a late Marcus Rashford goal propelled the visitors to fifth on the table, just three points behind third-placed Manchester City.
Solskjaer put on experienced forwards Ronaldo and Cavani for the first time, with Mason Greenwood and Rashford missing.
He also opted for a central back three with Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof bringing in the returning Rafael Varane.
It took time for the game to catch fire in front of a crowd of over 60,000, with clear openings at a premium.
Son Heung-min fired from close range for Spurs after Lucas Moura found him to the left with a dipped ball and a few moments later Cavani went wide from a Bruno Fernandes cross.
Tottenham had the ball just before the half-hour mark, but Cristian Romero’s effort was dismissed for offside, when Spurs players were already celebrating.
United midfielder Fred hit a stinging drive that was put out well by a diving Hugo Lloris and as play opened, Aaron Wan-Bissaka made a brilliantly timed tackle to deny Son, who was through on goal .
But United broke the deadlock in the 39th minute.
Ronaldo peeled Ben Davis at the back post to reach the end of Fernandes’ cross, hitting a good first volley across the goal and into the far corner.
Solskjaer replied with a silent celebration, putting his finger in the air.
Son got off to a good start early in the second half after Maura took a miss-clearance from United goalkeeper David de Gea.
Ronaldo thought he scored a second when he threw the ball into the net after running a through ball from Scott McTominay, but was flagged as he ran into celebration.
Nine minutes after half time, Spurs boss Nuno Espirito Santo brought in Steven Bergwijn in place of Maura for fans at home and chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing”.
But despite pressure from Spurs, United doubled their lead in the 64th minute as Ronaldo became the provider, feeding Cavani, who picked up the ball at Lloris to cheers among United fans.
Substitute Rashford added brightness to the scoreline with four minutes remaining, finishing cool behind Lloris as more bounced around the stadium.
publicized
While Solskjaer has earned himself some breathing space, the pressure will mount on Nuno, who has now tasted defeat in five of his 10 Premier League games since taking over.
Tottenham did not manage a single shot on goal and Harry Kane, largely anonymous, has scored just one Premier League goal in this campaign.
Topics mentioned in this article
.