Ole Gunnar Solskjaer won his battle with Mauricio Pochettino as Marcus Rashford and David De Gea gave Man Utd a 1-0 win over Tottenham at Wembley.
A Marcus Rashford goal and string of David De Gea saves saw Manchester United earn a 1-0 win at Wembley to seriously dent Tottenham's title hopes.
Current United caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer got the better of the betting favourite to get the job permanently Mauricio Pochettino to make it six wins on the bounce to move level with fifth-placed Arsenal.
An even first half saw Spurs enjoy most of the ball but United always looked dangerous on the break and the goal came in that very fashion as a wonderful long ball from Paul Pogba sent Rashford away to coolly slot beyond Hugo Lloris.
If Tottenham's finishing was as sharp as Rashford's then they could have won the game with something in hand, but Harry Kane and Dele Alli in particular just could not find a way past De Gea who got a hand, or more often a foot, onto everything they threw at him.
The Spanish keeper was right at his very best as he held, swatted and kicked away chance after chance in a second half Spurs dominated but could not find that finishing touch as United showed enough resilience to get the three points.
"We know how to control the games, how to keep the ball, how to create chances, which is very good for us."
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 13, 2019
Should Ole Gunnar Solskjær be given the job permanently?
David de Gea says 'This is the real Manchester United': https://t.co/OJgdUVJy1o pic.twitter.com/oQoOheHCHz
🍾Man of the Match, @ManUtd’s David De Gea 🍾
— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) January 13, 2019
✋11 saves (all in the 2nd half), the most by any keeper in a PL fixture this season
✋13.75% of his saves in PL this season were in the 2nd half
✋Back-to-back PL clean sheets for the 1st time since a run of 4, Dec 2017-Jan 2018 pic.twitter.com/zJnmcHNPgF
Tottenham 0-1 Man Utd Opta stats
- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has equalled Matt Busby’s all-time record of winning his first five league games in charge of Manchester United.
- Tottenham have lost consecutive home Premier League games for the first time since May 2015.
- Tottenham have lost four home league games this season – double the amount they’d lost at home in their previous two Premier League campaigns combined (2).
- Manchester United have kept back-to-back clean sheets in the Premier League – they’d only kept two in their first 20 league matches this season.
- Man Utd’s Marcus Rashford has scored in three consecutive Premier League games for the first time in his career.
- Paul Pogba has been directly involved in 53% of Man Utd’s 15 Premier League goals since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took charge (4 goals, 4 assists).
- David de Gea made 11 saves in this match for Man Utd – only against Arsenal in December 2017 has he ever made more in a Premier League match (14). This was the most saves he’s made in a top five European league game while also keeping a clean sheet.
- Tottenham’s Harry Kane had seven shots in this match – he last had more without finding the net in a Premier League game in January 2018 (8 vs Man Utd).
