Spurs 2-0 Manchester United

Pape Matar Sarr’s first-ever Spurs goal set us on our way to a fabulous win over Manchester United on Saturday evening, as we got our home Premier League campaign off to the dream start.

 The Senegalese midfielder rifled into the roof of the net four minutes into the second half of a breathless encounter with United, on only his third league start for us, and when Lisandro Martinez put through his own net with seven minutes remaining, it was no more than we deserved for a performance of real power and passion.

 It was the perfect start for Head Coach Ange Postecoglou in his first competitive home game since his June arrival, as he watched his team inflict a first-ever defeat on United at our new stadium.

With the stadium rocking at kick-off, it was no surprise to see the game explode in the opening minutes, setting the tone for the rest of the evening.

There was so much goalmouth action early on with Heung-Min Son, Antony and Alejandro Garnacho all having sights of goal within the first five minutes before Guglielmo Vicario made the first big save of the game, sticking out a hand to keep out Marcus Rashford’s close-range effort.

It was an open game and the chances continued to flow at both ends, our defence getting in some key blocks to prevent United’s shots causing any damage, while a lovely counter-attack on 25 minutes saw Son and Sarr combine to set up Dejan Kulusevski, whose left-foot curler was saved by Andre Onana.

 Big chances came and went in the final stages of the opening period, Bruno Fernandes somehow heading well wide from Garnacho’s cross when completely unmarked eight yards out before we hit the woodwork twice within seconds. First Pedro Porro drilled a shot from the edge of the area against the bar and, from the recycled ball, Sarr’s cross deflected off Luke Shaw and hit the outside of the post with Richarlison unable to bundle home the rebound.

But we only had to wait four minutes into the second half for opening goal, Porro finding Kulusevski in acres of space down the right, his cross from the byline flicked off Martinez into the path of Sarr, who fired home on the stretch.

 Just two minutes later, the visitors struck the post through Antony as they looked for an immediate response and Vicario then had to make a stunning save to tip over Casemiro’s header before the game swung up the other end, Yves Bissouma finding Son with a backheel nutmeg and he weaved past four defenders only to see his eventual shot blocked by Shaw.

It was frenetic stuff out there, football played at a great tempo by both teams although there was an element of nerves around the stadium as we held on to our narrow lead late in the game. But, on the pitch, there was no panic and we kept playing our football, which was eventually rewarded with a second goal.

 James Maddison pinged a lovely ball out wide left to substitute Ivan Perisic, his control was immaculate which allowed him to thread a pass into the box for another sub, Ben Davies, he touched the ball goalwards and Martinez got a big touch to make sure it beat Onana and rolled across the line.

 Manor Solomon came on for his Spurs debut in the closing minutes, by which point we were in total control and, soon after Fernandes hit a 99^th minute free-kick over the bar, the final whistle blew to signal a superb three points.