Premier League: Manchester United VS Tottenham Hotspur : Dominant Red Devils move past subdued Spurs

In many ways, this kind of performance new manager Erik ten Hag hopes becomes the norm for United in due course. 

They played with an attacking mindset and did not relent in their pressing. Indeed, Ten Hag said that star afterwards forward Cristiano Ronaldo remained an unused substitute because he would not be able to press as much as the team needed in this match. 

Ronaldo made a few unwanted headlines due to skulking off before the full-time whistle, supposedly due to his manager not using him throughout the game. 

The Dutchman said he would deal with the situation afterwards instead of focusing on his team's excellent job on the night. 

"I don't pay attention today (to Ronaldo's walking off). We will deal with that tomorrow. We want to focus on this team; it was a magnificent team performance from all 11 players. 

"I have seen him leaving, but I didn't speak to him after that. I will deal with that tomorrow." 

Ronaldo's incident aside, this was a display that, in many ways, played into United's hands. They are trying to implement a more attacking style of play but are often found out. 

Against Spurs, they had plenty of time on the ball – mainly because Antonio Conte's men prefer to be compact and take chances on the break. 

United did not end up scoring in the first half, but they did manage to rattle the Spurs' backline on more than one occasion, and a goal from the home side seemed inevitable. 

Indeed, it arrived two minutes into the second half after a wonderful sequence of passes from United. 

First, Fernandes passed to Antony, who then played a ball to Jadon Sancho across the field. The English winger tapped the ball into Fred's path; whose deflected shot went in. 

Rashford could have had a second minutes later but for a fine save from Hugo Lloris, who kept it out despite going the wrong way. 

United was increasing in confidence, though, and that confidence would be rewarded in the 69th minute. 

Fernandes curled in a beautiful shot to seal the game – and so it proved, with Ten Hag's substitutions afterwards built more to protect than to seek goals.

For his part, Conte admitted that his side was the second-best on the night. "In this type of match, you need to arrive ready to fight a war, and at the end, you die or your opponent. We didn't start the game only." 

The result keeps United in fifth, one point behind fourth-placed Chelsea – who they next take on. Tottenham remains third, with both United and Chelsea breathing down their necks.