Manchester United squandered a two goal lead as Spurs earned a deserved point in a 2-2 draw at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
Spurs came into the game on the back of a 6-1 humiliation at Newcastle at the weekend, a game in which they found themselves 5-0 down at half time, and despite a bright opening few minutes from the hosts, they again fell behind in just the seventh minute. Jadon Sancho received the ball on the left of the area, cutting onto his favoured right foot, before whipping an effort around Cristian Romero and beyond Fraser Forster.
Sancho almost had a second in the 16th minute, though his deflected effort was cleared off the line by the experienced Ivan Perisic as Manchester United looked in dominant and dangerous mood.
Having capitulated on Tyneside at the weekend, Spurs did at least put up some fight this time round, though on a number of occasions put a decent ball into the box only for nobody to be following in.
United continued to carve out chances though, and having already been denied twice by Forster, Marcus Rashford eventually made it 2-0 just before the interval. Seconds after Perisic had an effort saved by David de Gea at one end, United won the ball back and Bruno Fernandes launched a ball over the top of the Tottenham defence before the England international raced into the box and lashed beyond the Spurs ‘keeper with his left foot.
Spurs came out with a bit more intensity and belief after the break, and pulled a goal back 10 minutes after the restart, the ball dropping invitingly to Pedro Porro on the edge of the box before the January signing fired home with the outside of his right boot.
Almost immediately, Bruno Fernandes should have reestablished his side’s two-goal advantage, only to see his close-range effort come back off the bar.
FT: Spurs 2-2 Man Utd
xG: 2.24-2.13
Shots: 18-17
Shots on target: 7-8
Corners: 6-8
Possession: 40%-60%A brilliant come back from Tottenham. 👏#TOTMUN pic.twitter.com/hxu8szbsYh
— Squawka Live (@Squawka_Live) April 27, 2023
United drastically went off the boil after the break, and Spurs squandered a number of chances to bag a second, though the equaliser finally came with 11 minutes to go. The North London side won the ball back and it fell to Harry Kane who found himself in space. The club record goalscorer looked up before arcing a ball into his partner in crime, Son Heung Min, at the back post who tucked it past De Gea.
It really was a performance of two halves from the Old Trafford outfit, and speaking after the game, Erik ten Hag rued his side’s missed chances.
“Of course when you are 2-0 up then you are a little bit disappointed when you draw. That’s quite obvious,” he told BT Sport. “We had the chances after the 2-1 to score the 3-1 ands we didn’t and we concede the goal. I think in this week 2-2 is a good draw.
“We had to score a second goal but to be honest they could have got the equaliser just before half time, just before we scored. I don’t think we were that good across the 90 minutes. After half-time we had to score another goal.”
The Dutchman also admitted his side are conceding too many ‘easy goals’.
“Manage the game, keep the ball,” was his message to his side. “We give so much easy goals away. With the goals it was quite obvious they got across us. We have to proactive there with the second ball and we didn’t squeeze out and it was too easy to score a goal then.”
The result keeps United six points ahead of today’s opponents in the race for the top four, with the Red Devils having two games in hand.
