FIVE ASIDES Premier League: Spurs 2, United 2
Two points lost, or one gained? It was certainly frustrating to see United go a bit Spursy, extend their non-winning streak in big away games, and turn 2-0 into 2-2 for the second time in three Thursdays. But then, this time, a draw was all they needed. It was Spurs who had to win – to stay in the race for Europe, to repair their self-respect after being annihilated by Newcastle, and to celebrate seeing off another miscast manager. With United missing Rapha Varane and Lisandro Martinez, it was a dead cert that Harry Kane and co. would bounce back. The only surprise was that they waited till half-time.
United’s goals were all about Marcus Rashford. He set up the first with a neat turn and lay-off to Jadon Sancho (who took it superbly). Then he scored the second by racing onto Bruno Fernandes’s through ball, treating Eric Dier as if he wasn’t there and sending a screamer past Fraser Forster. It was Rashford’s 29th United goal of the season, and the most memorable of several scored with his left foot. Every time you think his purple patch is over, up he pops again.
Fernandes was formidable too. It wasn’t just that through ball: he had the old pros purring with the rolled nutmeg that made a lemon of Clément Lenglet. If he had scored with the resulting chip, as he surely should have, United would have won. But the most impressive thing about Fernandes was that he was there at all, after appearing on his wife Ana Pinho’s Instagram on Monday evening with a moon boot on his twisted ankle. In a perfect world it would have been an old boot, because that’s what Bruno is as tough as. He has never missed a United game through injury, as the MEN pointed out. He has played 4,448 minutes this season, not counting the World Cup. He may be rubbish with refs, but his commitment to the cause makes Roy Keane look a bit half-arsed.
Erik ten Hag used to be so good with his substitutions. But that was when the cards in his hand included Alejandro Garnacho, the second most prolific sub in the Premier League (after Reiss Nelson of Arsenal). Maybe it’s that, or maybe it’s just that in managing a game, as in playing it, there is such a thing as form. Here Ten Hag shifted Rashford from centre-forward after an hour, as he often does, even though it had been going so well that this must have come as a blessed relief to the hapless Dier; he took off Christian Eriksen ten minutes too early, even though he was playing beautifully on his return to Spurs; he left Antony on ten minutes too long, even though he had reverted to his pre-Forest mode of boycotting end product; and he brought on Tyrell Malacia, even though his defending had recently been lackadaisical. Malacia duly messed up, letting down the excellent Luke Shaw and allowing Kane to play his favourite curling cross to Heung-Min Son. (Memo to the new owners: just sign him!) It wasn’t Ten Hag’s fault that Fred, replacing Eriksen, followed a fine display against Brighton with a shocker here. But when he berated his team for only giving 90 per cent – four days after getting through extra time and penalties – he might have done well to add that only 25 per cent of his substitutions had gone right.
Talking of percentages, United’s chances of reaching the Champions League are still 86pc. That’s according to FiveThirtyEight, which had them on 88pc before this match, so no harm done. (Spurs, by the way, are below 1 per cent.) United are six points ahead of Spurs and Villa, who both have five games left to United’s seven. The most Spurs and Villa can manage is 69 points, so United, on 60, need ten more to be sure of seeing them off. Brighton could theoretically reach 73, but they have still to face all of the top four, so that’s not going to happen. United have two tough games left, Villa home and Brighton away, followed by four against clubs from the land of nothing to play for – West Ham, Wolves, Bournemouth, Chelsea and Fulham. (The worst of the lot, right now, are Chelsea, who stand 19th in the form table. Todd Boehly, we salute you.) Villa have been on a roll, but they have still to meet all their new neighbours – Spurs, Liverpool and Brighton as well as United. A slightly bigger threat to United comes from their old friends at Anfield, who have the easiest run-in of all these clubs and have startled everyone by winning three games in a row. Are United seriously going to blow a seven-point lead when they have a game in hand? If they do, they will deserve to be back in the Europa.
Tim de Lisle is the editor of United Writing and a sportswriter for The Guardian. If you’re on Twitter, do follow him and United Writing. If you received this piece by email, please feel free to forward it to the nearest Red.