Spurs Vs Man Utd

MATCH REPORT: TOTTENHAM 3
UNITED 0
Barclays Premier League | 10 April 2016 | White Hart
Lane | Attendance: 35,761 | Scorers: Alli 70,
Alderweireld 74, Lamela 76

Tottenham Hotspur scored three times inside six
second-half minutes to inflict a 3-0 defeat on
Manchester United, leaving the Reds four points
shy of the Barclays Premier League top four.
Dele Alli, Toby Alderweireld and Erik Lamela scored
the quickfire goals in devastating fashion to secure
Spurs' first win over United at White Hart Lane in
15 matches, since a 3-1 triumph in May, 2001. The
result means qualification to next season’s UEFA
Champions League looks a tall order for Louis van
Gaal's men with only six top-flight matches left to
play this season. “It is not the weekend we
wanted," conceded a disappointed Michael Carrick
afterwards. "But there are a few weekends left
yet."

Kick-off at White Hart Lane was delayed by 30
minutes due to United’s team bus being stuck in
traffic and that meant the Reds had to complete a
much shorter warm-up than normal, although it
didn’t appear to make an impact in the opening
exchanges of the first half. Van Gaal’s men
controlled much of the ball for 20 minutes and
registered shots at goal through Jesse Lingard and
Tim Fosu-Mensah, the impressive and powerful
Dutch youngster who was recalled to the XI in
place of Matteo Darmian.

Title-chasing Tottenham needed to win the game
following Leicester City’s 2-0 win at Sunderland
earlier in the day and Mauricio Pochettino's
men began to show their quality as the first half
ticked on, with an offside Harry Kane forcing a
point-blank save from David De Gea and Christian
Eriksen curling wide from distance, before Erik
Lamela spurned an excellent chance when his free
header bounced wide of the back post just before
the half-hour mark.

Ahead of Sunday’s outing, Spurs boasted the
Premier League’s best defensive record in terms of
goals conceded (25) and United were also top of
the division’s clean sheets table with 15, so it was
perhaps no surprise that the score remained
goalless following a competitive yet studious first
half at White Hart Lane.

FIRST-HALF STATISTICS
Possession: Tottenham 41% United 59%
Shots at goal: Tottenham 4 United 2
Shots on target: Tottenham 0 United 0
Corners: Tottenham 1 United 3

Ashley Young replaced the unusually quiet Marcus
Rashford at the beginning of the second half to
make his first senior appearance since 17 January
in the 1-0 win at Liverpool. The 30-year-old
displayed his versatility by playing as United’s sole
striker, a role that he had played to good effect for
the Under-21s against Chelsea at Old Trafford
earlier in the week.

Tottenham restarted the match with much greater
pace and De Gea was quickly forced into action to
repel two powerful shots on 50 minutes, firstly from
the lively Eriksen and then from in-form England
international Eric Dier, before the Premier League's
top scorer Kane forced another save from the
Spaniard moments later as Spurs flexed their
attacking muscles.

The game was lacking a real moment in quality
with both sides repeatedly giving the ball away,
although Anthony Martial could and perhaps should
have broken the deadlock on 62 minutes with a
superb individual effort. He cut inside from the left
wing to dribble past three markers and hit a
powerful strike that was saved by Hugo Lloris, his
captain with the French national team.
Just as United eyed a narrow win in the final third
of the match, bouyed by Martial's good work,
Tottenham floored the Reds by ruthlessly scoring
three goals in the space of six minutes. Alli
notched the first with a cool finish past De Gea
from Eriksen’s left-wing cross and Alderweireld
swiftly headed home the second from Lamela’s
pinpoint free-kick. Argentina international Lamela
then latched onto Danny Rose’s assist to complete
the match’s decisive spell by drilling past the
exposed De Gea.
That wrapped up a disappointing result in north
London that means it is now extremely difficult for
United to qualify for next season's Champions
League, with Manchester City four points ahead.
Presumably, there is now a greater emphasis on
the Reds' Emirates FA Cup campaign ahead of it a
resumption with the quarter-final replay at West
Ham in midweek.

SECOND-HALF STATISTICS
Possession: Tottenham 46% United 54%
Shots at goal: Tottenham 16 United 5
Shots on target: Tottenham 9 United 1
Corners: Tottenham 2 United 7

THE TEAMS
United: De Gea, Fosu-Mensah (Darmian 68),
Smalling, Blind, Rojo, Schneiderlin, Carrick, Mata
(Memphis 77), Lingard, Martial, Rashford (Young
46).
Subs not used: Romero, Valencia, Fellaini, Herrera.
Booked: Darmian, Memphis, Young.

Tottenham: Lloris, Walker, Alderweireld,
Vertonghen, Rose, Dier, Dembele, Lamela (Chadli
87), Eriksen, Alli (Mason 92), Kane (Son 88).
Subs not used: Vorm, Trippier, Wimmer, Carroll.
Booked: Rose, Walker, Alli.

MATCH REACTION
Louis van Gaal: “Every team can lose to everybody
so we are still in the race [for fourth] but, of
course, when you lose a game you have to close
the gap again and that is difficult.”

Michael Carrick: “I thought we did alright for an
hour or so, but the first goal was a bad one to
concede because we could have stopped that and
we could have prevented that. The second one
came so quickly after that and put us right on the
back foot. The third one meant it was game over
because there was so little time left."