It was an eccentric night, full of strange sub-plots and a personal ordeal for several Manchester United players, but the most important detail is that Tottenham Hotspur had outplayed, out-thought and out-fought them and that, more than anything, will be the abiding memory of a night when José Mourinho officially gave up the pretence that the title race was still alive.
It was certainly difficult to make total sense of a night when Mourinho abandoned the first half by heading down the tunnel on the 43-minute mark, substituted Paul Pogba with half an hour to go and described his team as “ridiculous” for conceding a goal after 11 seconds. Christian Eriksen’s first touch in a brilliant Spurs performance was not quite the quickest goal of the Premier League era – that record belonging to another Spurs man, Ledley King, for scoring 10 seconds into a game against Bradford City in 2000 – but it is difficult to think there has been another occasion in United’s history when the ball has been in their net before any of their players has managed a single touch.
Ultimately, though, the real story here was of Spurs putting on their most enthralling display since beating Real Madrid at the start of November, of “olés” sweeping round the largest crowd, 81,978, there has been in the Premier League and of an opening 45 minutes when Mauricio Pochettino’s players were so dominant that a number of their opponents, most notably Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, looked as if they might need a dose of smelling salts at the interval.
Jones, in particular, had a wretched night and it was not just with his own goal, putting Kieran Trippier’s low cross past David de Gea after 28 minutes, when it was difficult to remember he was supposed to be England’s first-choice centre-half. Harry Kane had him on toast. Yet this was not just a one-man failure and it must have been startling for Mourinho to see the way his entire team looked ill at ease when the home side swarmed forward. If anything, it was just a surprise Spurs did not add more goals and Kane was understandably aggrieved with Son Heung-min for trying, and failing, to beat De Gea with a second-half effort when a sideways pass would have left the striker with an open goal.
Smalling found it just as difficult as Jones to keep order and, as well as scoring twice during the first half, Spurs could conceivably have had a penalty for Antonio Valencia’s scything challenge on Dele Alli. Lucas Moura, the club’s £25m recruit from Paris Saint-Germain, was in the stands and it was a thrilling way to introduce the Brazilian to his team-mates. On this evidence Moura’s only concern ought to be how to shoehorn himself into the side when Eriksen, Alli and Son are so effective in the spaces around Kane.
Alexis Sánchez must certainly have hoped his first league appearance for United would be a happier occasion and it felt very much as if Mourinho was making a point when he withdrew Pogba during the only period of the game, conversely, when the away side were daring to think a revival was possible. Mourinho, like his players, did not have an impressive night and the changes did not lead to any improvement in a midfield where Nemanja Matic looks jaded and is not having anything like the influence he exerted earlier in the season.
The substitute Marouane Fellaini was withdrawn seven minutes later and, at the time, it felt in keeping with the rest of the night that Mourinho had simply decided it was a mistake to have brought him on. Not so, the United manager insisted afterwards, revealing the Belgian had suffered a recurrence of a knee injury.
Mourinho’s post-match press conference lasted the grand total of three minutes, revealing his mood on the evening that a 15-point gap opened up between his team and Manchester City at the top – the same gulf that exists between Burnley in seventh place and West Bromwich Albion in bottom spot.
Spurs, in fifth place, are now six points clear of Arsenal and, when they play with this energy and vibrancy, it is a surprise they are not even higher up the league. The only real moments of danger for Pochettino’s men in the second half came early on when Hugo Lloris saved from Romelu Lukaku and there was a penalty appeal for a handball by Son.
That apart, the home side dominated virtually the entire game after that extraordinary start when Mousa Dembélé turned the kick-off back, Jan Vertonghen’s next pass went long and Kane beat Jones to the header to give Alli the chance to shoot with his first touch.
Alli could not get a clean connection but the ball fell invitingly for Eriksen to score the 50th Tottenham goal of his career.
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