Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes saw red as Tottenham cruised past the struggling Red Devils 3-0 and increased the heat on manager Erik ten Hag. Sunday’s Old Trafford encounter was a chance for these top-four hopefuls to kickstart campaigns that had begun in similarly topsy-turvy fashion. But a month that started for United with a 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool ended in another Old Trafford loss by the same scoreline as Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke struck for Spurs.
Skipper Fernandes’ sending off for a challenge on James Maddison at the end of a one-sided first half compounded matters, ruling him out of next weekend’s trip to Aston Villa and two further matches. Kobbie Mainoo and Mason Mount also went off injured on a nightmare afternoon for Ten Hag, who is under the spotlight as United head to Porto and Villa Park before the international break. As for Ange Postecoglou, they impressed without injured star Son Heung-min and won consecutive Premier League matches for the first time since March.
Spurs were as impressive as United were disjointed from the outset at Old Trafford, where the visitors went ahead after 155 seconds. Micky van de Ven capitalised on miscommunication between Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford and drove forwards from his own half having intercepted the ball. The rapid Spurs centre-back was inexplicably allowed to roar through, eventually sending a low cross to the far post for Johnson to tap home in front of a she.
