Stunning win as United are hit for six - match report and debrief

We hit six goals at Old Trafford for the first time in our history as we romped to a stunning Premier League victory against Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.

Despite conceding a second-minute penalty, we came back in style to become the first team to ever score four first-half goals against United in the Premier League, taking advantage of a red card for Anthony Martial when we were 2-1 up and surging into a 4-1 lead at the break before extending that to 6-1 after the restart in a quite remarkable display.

It was the home side who took the lead with a penalty awarded in the first minute. Immediately on the offensive from kick-off, United attacked down the left and Martial got in on goal before being brought down from behind by Davinson Sanchez. Referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot and Bruno Fernandes tucked home the penalty.

It was the worst possible start but we responded in superb fashion with four unanswered goals to be in total control by half-time. The immediate equaliser on four minutes was vital. Erik Lamela pressured Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire inside the area and Tanguy Ndombele lashed the loose ball into the net. And three minutes later we were ahead after Harry Kane was brought down midway inside the United half but got up swiftly to set Heung-Min Son away with a quick free-kick and he produced a wonderful finish to clip the ball past David De Gea from the edge of the six yard box.

Then came the sending-off incident in the 28th minute, Martial raising his hands into the face of Lamela and the referee awarded a straight red card to the United man. We took full advantage and added a third within two minutes when Kane slid in to nick the ball from Nemanja Matic on the edge of the area and within a matter of seconds, Son squared for Kane to side-foot home.

In the 37th minute, Moussa Sissoko found Serge Aurier in acres of space down the right and he spotted the run of Son in to the near post, sliding the perfect pass for the South Korean to slot the ball through the legs of De Gea for 4-1.

Six minutes into the second half we extended our lead further when we kept the ball well before Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg found Aurier with a magnificent pass inside Paul Pogba and the right-back drilled low and hard into the back of the net.

And we made club history in the 79th minute when we scored our sixth from the spot. Substitute Ben Davies burst down the left flank and into the area, cut inside Marcus Rashford and was then brought down by Pogba for a clear penalty. Up stepped Kane to power his spot-kick past De Gea and round off a quite memorable team performance.

A dominant display

The 6-1 scoreline will be talked about for a very long time, but it’s fair to say we could have won by an even bigger margin after such a dominant performance in every area of the pitch.

The statistics say it all – we had 62 per cent possession, with 22 shots at goal and eight on target. Having done so well to come back from conceding that early goal to lead 2-1, we were starting to get on top even before Martial’s dismissal and were peppering the United goal midway through the first half.

Son should have done better on 25 minutes when we broke up a United attack and Lamela’s superb deep ball put him in on goal only for Son’s touch to evade him as he approached De Gea and the keeper was able to gather. Then Aurier was put clear on the right, he cut in on his left but De Gea parried away his shot before Lamela’s effort was blocked for a corner. From the set-piece, Eric Bailly did really well to block shots from Sergio Reguilon and Ndombele in quick succession to keep United in the game, and the red card then occurred as the players mingled for the resulting corner.

We added two more first-half goals and could have been further ahead before the interval, Kane almost adding a fifth in stoppage time, glancing Son’s corner just wide of the far post.

And as well as the two goals in the second period – which was a much more subdued affair – we went close with another opportunity as Hojbjerg intercepted a pass from Fred and we were away again, Son feeding Kane who tried to beat De Gea at his near post but the keeper tipped it away for a corner.

Records tumble at Old Trafford

As mentioned, we scored six goals at Old Trafford for the first time in our history in this superb win. But we had hit the Red Devils for six at White Hart Lane on two previous occasions – winning 6-1 in September, 1932, and recording a 6-2 victory in October, 1962.

Our previous best win at Old Trafford was a 5-1 success in September, 1959.

Goals from Ndombele, Son (2) and Kane in the opening period meant we became the first side to score four first-half goals against United in the Premier League, and the first since Nottingham Forest achieved the feat in May, 1990.

Before this game, Son had failed to score in 11 previous appearances against United but took just seven minutes to correct that stat to put us 2-1 up, before adding his second late in the first half.

With the fixtures continuing to come thick and fast, Jose Mourinho made eight changes to the team that started against Maccabi Haifa in the 7-2 UEFA Europa League play-off round victory on Thursday night. Hugo Lloris, Aurier, Eric Dier, Reguilon, Sissoko, Ndombele, Lamela and Son came in for Joe Hart, Matt Doherty, Toby Alderweireld, Davies, Harry Winks, Giovani Lo Celso, Steven Bergwijn and Lucas. Lo Celso and Bergwijn missed out with thigh injuries, while Reguilon was making his Premier League debut following his recent move from Real Madrid.

Reaction on Spurs TV

'Amazing performance, historic result'

After an emphatic win against one of his former clubs, Jose told Spurs TV: "It was an amazing performance. I can imagine some anti-Spurs people will say it was 11 against 10 for the second half, but I  have to say we were so much better than them for the whole of the first half, 11 against 11, lots of confidence in the team, losing 1-0 to a silly penalty, no problem. The team just played, played, played, reacted, kept playing, playing, playing and when we felt weakness, we went for the jugular, and you don’t do that if you are not an ultra-confident team. So, an amazing performance, historic result and very important three points, because with these three points, we go up in the table."

Match data

Goals: United – Fernandes 2 (pen); Spurs – Ndombele 4, Son 7, 37, Kane 30, 79 (pen), Aurier 51.

Yellow cards: United – Bailly, Shaw; Spurs - Lamela.

Red card: United - Martial.

Referee: Anthony Taylor.

Venue: Old Trafford.

Weather: Light cloud, gentle breeze, 13 degrees.