MANCHESTER – Manchester United dealt a blow to Tottenham‘s Premier League title ambitions with a dominating 2-0 victory at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
Chelsea‘s winning run came to an end in a 0-0 draw at Brentford, which allowed Newcastle to close within two points of the top four with a 1-0 victory over Everton.
United are now just a point behind the Champions League places and could overtake Chelsea when the sides meet at Stamford Bridge on Saturday after their most impressive display under Erik ten Hag.
“We had very good performances like Liverpool and Arsenal, but in this game we were really good from start to finish,” said Ten Hag. “I told the team it was very nice to watch.”
The Red Devils have managed 28 shots on goal against a Tottenham side who have been beaten just once in their first 10 league games of the season.
Signs of progress for United since losing the opening two games of the campaign have been hampered by a lack of killer instinct up front.
But they finally got their rewards in front of a cheering full house when Fred’s deflected try found the bottom corner two minutes into the second half.
Bruno Fernandes then doubled United’s lead with his first club goal since August.
Tottenham could have moved within a point of leaders Arsenal with a win, but their performance left Antonio Conte wondering if they could be in contention for the title.
“I think we need time,” said the Italian. “You can’t go from ninth place to being a title contender the following year in just 10 or 11 months. Especially when you finished 20 points behind the English monsters last season.”
