EPL: Tottenham cruise past 10-man Manchester United

Tottenham Hotspur thumped 10-man Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday in the English Premier League.

The visitors scored within the opening three minutes through Welsh forward Brennan Johnson, who slotted the ball into the United net after an impressive run by Dutch centre-back Micky van de Ven.

The pivotal point of the game, however, came in the 42nd minute, when United skipper Bruno Fernandes was sent off after a nasty tackle on James Maddison.

Spurs pressed their advantage shortly after the restart, doubling their lead through Swedish midfielder Dejan Kulusevski.

Although United had a decent spell midway through the second half, Dominic Solanke put the result beyond doubt for the visitors with 13 minutes left.

A second consecutive league win leaves Ange Postecoglou’s men in eighth place with 10 points.

Meanwhile, Manchester United are undoubtedly in crisis mode after Matchweek 6, as the defeat leaves them in 12th with seven points — eight behind league leaders Liverpool.

United’s third league defeat also brings further scrutiny over the future of manager Erik ten Hag.

Speaking after the match, the Dutchman maintained he wasn’t worried about his future.

“I am not thinking about this,” ten Hag said.

“We made this decision together — to stay together with the ownership, the leadership group and the staff after a clear review on how to improve as an organisation.

“We discussed together how to construct a squad and we all knew it will take some time – we needed improvement in organisation, we still have some injuries.

“But we are all on one page, in the same boat; owners, leadership, the staff and players group.”

Postecoglou, in stark contrast, was impressed after the game.

“I thought it was an outstanding performance,” the Spurs boss said.

“We started the game well, scored a great goal and probably should have had two or three. After that [red card] I thought we controlled the game well. Just an outstanding effort from all the lads.”

Manchester United will be in Europa League action on Thursday, with online bookies paying +158 for the Red Devils to defeat FC Porto (+164).

Meanwhile, Spurs will be hosted by Ferencvarosi TC, with top soccer betting sites slating the visitors at -256.41 to beat the Hungarian champions (+691) in the Europa League.

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