Manchester United preserved their unbeaten record in the Premier League by battling a spirited Spurs side to an absorbing 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane, albeit after having being reduced to 10 men for the last 16 minutes.
Young Brazilian right-back Rafael was controversially sent off in the 74th for a second bookable offense after he clipped Benoit Assou-Ekotto’s heels, but replays clearly showed that Rafael was just trying to get out of the way.
Earlier, the Peter Pan of Manchester United, Ryan Giggs, was named in the starting line-up for his 600th Premier League appearance. The Welshman is just six games short of Sir Bobby Charlton’s record.
United were also boosted by the return of Wayne Rooney after being sidelined for two games due to injury, along with Edwin Van der Sar and Nemanja Vidic.
Both teams had a chance of taking the lead in the opening couple of minutes, with Gareth Bale producing a scintillating run down the left before skewing a cross into Van der Sar’s clutches. United then had a chance at the other end when Berbatov neatly played Wayne Rooney in the box. Rooney, who had almost single-handedly defeated Spurs in this fixture last season, got past William Gallas only to whip his shot wide of the post.
Michael Carrick then fouled Wilson Palacios at the edge of the United box, bringing on Rafael Van der Vaart to take the kick who can be so dynamic from that sort of range. The Dutchman got his shot through the wall but it landed straight into the arms of his compatriot Van der Sar.
Luka Modric, who was praised by Sir Alex Ferguson, then produced a magnificent low whip of a cross to the heels of Peter Crouch who shot inches wide. Best chance of the match so far. A bit of rustiness on the part of Crouch, who had made only his third league start of the season.
Rafael then earned his first yellow of the match after going in on a lunging challenge on Palacios, with his studs off the ground. The referee was sensible to produce just a yellow considering the nature and importance of the tie.
Gareth Bale, who had been contained by Rafael nice and tight with Ferdinand covering from behind, finally got through and raked in a cross from the left in the direction of Van der Vaart. But the Dutchman only found the side-netting with his downward header after a good early jump that beat Vidic.
At the other end, Rooney took a ball from Berbatov and cracked in a right-foot effort from 25 yards which Heurelho Gomes did well to save.
It was frantic football in the opening 45, astonishingly without a goal.
Rooney almost scored again in the opening sequences of the second half with a powerful low shot only to be tipped away by Gomes. The Spurs shot-stopper was having a splendid game.
Anderson replaced Nani midway through the second half as United looked to inject some pace and attack down the middle. But they were pegged back in the 74th when Rafael was questionably given a second caution.
The energetic Brazilian caught Assou-Ekotto on the heels after trying to get out of the way. But referee Mike Dean had nothing doing and produced the second yellow. Rafael stomped off after giving a piece of his mind to Dean, and Rooney was booked for doing the same.
Harry Redknapp went for victory, replacing Palacios with Jermain Defoe, while Javier Hernandez replaced Berbatov for United.
Hernandez almost gifted Spurs the lead as he clumsily placed the ball for Van der Vaart to shoot in the United box. Van der Vaart’s left-footed curler went barely inches from the post.
Spurs piled on the pressure towards the end and posed a constant threat to the United goal, but the Red Devils hung on to the point which took them back on top of the Barclays Premier League, after being upstaged by neighbours City temporarily.
Nemanja Vidic was crucial in securing the draw. The Serbian won his aerial battles with Crouch, handled the pace of Aaron Lennon perfectly and was instrumental in thwarting almost all of Spurs’ attacking moves.
The draw sees Spurs slip outside the top four after Chelsea’s victory over Blackburn. Also, their winless streak against United is now stretched to 24 matches.
All-in-all, it was a match that saw both teams open up nicely, making for some entertaining viewing until Rafael’s sending off. There was passion and incident, but sadly no goal.
No comments:
Post a Comment