Tue 18 October 2022, 11:00
Tottenham HotspurOld Trafford has hardly been the happiest of hunting grounds for any visiting team over the years, but we've won two of our last four at the red half of Manchester, racking up 12 goals in the process.
The famous old stadium just down the road from Salford Quays proved quite the fortress as United celebrated 13 Premier League titles from 1992/93 until Sir Alex Ferguson's departure in 2012/13. During that time, United lost only 37 of their 405 home matches in the Premier League.
Indeed, there was a gap of 23 years between wins for us between 1989-2012, but since then, there has been a change as we've come out on top four times and lost narrowly five times, including three 1-0s and last season's Ronaldo-inspired 3-2 to the Reds.
Here are the pick of our wins going back to a famous FA Cup tie in 1980...
09.01.1980 - United 0-1 Spurs - FA Cup
Would history repeat itself in the FA Cup at Old Trafford in 1980? A year earlier, we’d drawn United in the quarter-finals, drew at White Hart Lane with Ossie Ardiles on target and then lost the replay 2-0 at Old Trafford. At the start of a new decade, we were pitted together again, this time in the third round and, once again, Ossie was on target in a 1-1 draw at the Lane, with United goalkeeper Gary Bailey keeping us at bay and Sammy McIlroy forcing a replay via let’s say a ‘debatable’ penalty. Four days later, the teams met for another replay at Old Trafford. This one has gone down in our FA Cup folklore as our number one Milija Aleksic made superb saves from Mickey Thomas, Ray Wilkins and McIlroy but was then knocked out after a challenge with Joe Jordon. With only one substitute in those days, John Pratt came on, leaving Glenn Hoddle to don the gloves and green jersey. Incredibly, Hoddle didn’t have a save to make for an hour as Ossie fittingly had the final word in extra time - his superb curler won it in the 118th minute. We went out in the last eight again that year but, a year later, Ossie would have his dream as we lifted the trophy at Wembley.
16.12.1989 - United 0-1 Spurs - Division One
This would be our last win at Old Trafford for while - see below - and how things would change at Old Trafford. Just over 36,000 fans were there as Gary Lineker’s fine strike - cutting in from the left before curling into the top corner from 20 yards - secured the points just before Christmas. We would go on to finish a fine third in 1989/90, our highest finish until we matched it in 2015/16 and were then runners-up in 2016/17, as we reeled off eight wins in our final 10 matches. Liverpool took the title, United were 13th. They would finish sixth in 1990/91 and second in 1991/92 before winning the inaugural ‘Premiership’ in 1992/93, the first of 13 Premier League titles.
29.09.2012 - United 2-3 Spurs - Premier League
September, 2012, and a new Spurs team was starting to take shape. Summer arrivals Jan Vertonghen and Mousa Dembele were making their mark, Kyle Walker was building on his breakthrough season, Hugo Lloris had arrived, and Gareth Bale was laying the foundations for his best season in a Spurs shirt. On the bench, Academy prospects Ryan Mason and Andros Townsend. It all came together at Old Trafford, against a team that would go on to lift the Premier League title in 2012/13. That day, there was no stopping us as goals from Vertonghen, Bale and Clint Dempsey secured a dramatic 3-2 victory - our first on the red half of Manchester since 1989. We went on to finish fifth that season, racking up 73 points. Indeed, we lost just two of our last 22 matches. Bale scored 21 league goals - one of his best was that day at Old Trafford.
27.08.2018 - United 0-3 Spurs - Premier League
‘Lucas Moura has arrived’, declared Club commentator Rob Daly, and the Brazilian’s brilliant double not only secured a deserved win at Old Trafford, but went a long way to securing him the Premier League’s EA SPORTS Player of the Month for August, 2018. Both teams had chances - Romelu Lukaku for United, Dele for us - before Harry Kane opened the scoring, heading home Kieran Trippier’s corner. Christian Eriksen then crossed for Lucas to make it 2-0 and Kane threaded through to Lucas, who raced past Chris Smalling before powering home for 3-0. We went on to finish fourth and Lucas would later write his name forever in Club folklore with his hat-trick in the Champions League semi-final at Ajax.
04.10.2020 - United 1-6 Spurs - Premier League
Okay, who saw this one coming? Trailing to Bruno Fernandes’ penalty inside two minutes, we just flicked a switch. Crucially, Tanguy Ndombele quickly levelled, then Harry Kane sent away Heung-Min Son for 2-1, Anthony Martial was sent off after a clash with Erik Lamela and by half-time, we were 4-1 up, with Sonny setting up Harry and Serge Aurier picking out Sonny. Serge drilled home from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s pass for 5-1 on 51 minutes and, with 40 minutes left, it could have been anything, really, but there was only one more goal as Harry converted from the penalty spot after Ben Davies was upended.
