Key events
74 min Rashford is back on his feet. Fernandes sends one of his long curling through balls into the box, but Vicario is able to gather it.
72 min Rashford is down in some pain after a 50-50 with someone, but the free kick goes to Spurs because he was coming back from an offside position.
70 min Spurs venture forward again and Martinez tidies up as if he’d never ben away. If he was your housemate, you wouldn’t need to worry about the washing-up.
69 min Spurs’ umpteenth corner is headed away by McTominay, who may be out there partly to do just that. It falls to Skipp, whose rasping shot is deflected just wide.
67 min “United could win the game, who knows,” says Neville, “but the away team is the better team, even with four or five players missing.” To be fair, that applies to both sides.
66 min Hojlund sends Rashford through, but two Spurs defenders do well to smother him.
65 min Udogie goes down in the area, after a push from Garnacho, but neither the ref nor the VAR feels it’s a foul.
Martinez returns!
63 min Jonny Evans makes way for Lisandro Martinez. “Argentina,” sing the crowd, sounding a little like the chorus in Evita at the Curve in Leicester.
62 min Wan-Bissaka on the charge! He feeds McTominay, who shoots just wide when the better option was probably to pass the parcel to Garnacho, in space on the right.
61 min Dalot does well to set Garnacho free down the right, only for Van de Ven to make an immaculate tackle.
60 min As the hour comes up, United have a corner, taken by Fernaqndes, that sails harmlessly over everyone. And now another Spurs corner, headed away by Varane.
58 min Spurs have a corner, their eighth, headed away by Evans. Their ninth ends up giving Werner a volley, which he puts over the bar. McTominay is on, for Eriksen, which will make United more aggressive and less artistic.
57 min Spurs have had 78pc of the possession in this half. Ten Hag is doing something about it, but not sending for Casemiro yet – it’s Scott McTominay who is getting ready.
55 min Porro’s free kick is headed away by Fernandes for yet another Spurs corner.
54 min Spurs are still on top. Richarlison, roaming down the right, wins a free kick off Eriksen.
53 min Wan-Bissaka, still on the left, shows his best and his worst – making a fine interception, then giving the ball away limply.
51 min Werner, buoyed by his assist, wins a corner on the left. It’s half-cleared, Spurs come again, and Richarlison, in acres, has a shot saved. “Really good start to this half from Spurs,” says Gary Neville.
50 min Spurs threaten again as Johnson reaches the byline and hits a fine cross, well headed away by Dalot. United still have a hole in midfield, surely waiting to be filled by Casemiro.
49 min We’re halfway to that 4-4.
The goal was concocted by Cristian Romero, whose long ball from right to left sliced United open. Skipp fed Werner, who found Bentancur ghosting into the box like Martin Peters. Jonny Evans hesitated, and Bentancur smashed a left-foot shot past Onana.
GOAL! Man United 2-2 Spurs (Bentancur 46)
This is ridiculous.
Rashford’s goal was his sixth against Spurs in 14 PL games, and his first in 15 games at Old Trafford. It takes him ahead of a famous United marksman…
Time for some more mail. “An excitingly mistake-ridden first half with some excellent finishes,” reckons Column Fordham. “Richarlison looks sharp for Spurs but Timo Werner’s feeble shots remind me of Denis Healey’s apt description of Geoffrey Howe: ‘Being attacked by him is like being savaged by a dead sheep’.” Mind you, Howe ended up bringing down a prime minister – Margaret Thatcher.
It’s been too hectic for the mailbag, but here’s what my old news editor used to call a nice little tale. “A few years ago,” says Kári Tulinius, “I was traveling around rural Iceland and stopped for lunch in a town that had one restaurant. When we got there we found out that Jim Ratcliffe had rented out the whole restaurant to feed his crew while he was salmon fishing.
“We were informed that the only place to get lunch anywhere nearby was a petrol station that sold hamburgers. As someone who doesn’t eat meat, my heart sank, but more fool me because it turned out they had excellent veggieburgers with their own recipe for patties and unexpected, tasty ingredients.”
HALF-TIME! Man United 2-1 Spurs
Manchester United have only one league game this month, but what a game it is. We’ve had about three weekends’ worth of action already. United took the lead in the third minute through the new, improved Rasmus Hojlund, who slammed the ball into the top bin as if he’d never struggled to get used to the Premier League. Spurs took hold of midfield, won a lot of corners and scored from one of them via Richarlison’s deft header. United then found a riposte against the run of play, as Marcus Rashford scored the sort of goal he used to reel off last season, a crisp pass into the far corner.
So United lead at half-time at home for the first time in the league this season. Can they hang on? Who knows?
45+2 min Chance! Romero gets his head to the corner, hurls himself at it and hits the bar. Then there’s a shot from someone else, not far wide. And there’s even time for a bit of argy-bargy at the other end between Romero and Hojlund, who collects a cheap yellow.
45+2 min And now a Spurs corner! It would be right on-brand for United to concede again now.
45+1 min United win a corner on the left, making it 5-4 to them on that score. The ball ends up near the D with Fernandes, whose shot is into Row X.
45 min There will be three added minutes.
44 min Chance! For Rashford, who makes the wrong decision this time, cutting back onto his right foot when he surely should have blasted it with his left. Chance at the other end! For Werner, who does use his left foot, but screws his shot wide.
43 min United have had two shots on target and they’ve both ended up in the net. Spurs have had four, three of them tame.
42 min That goal was against the run of play.
It’s official – Rashford is back in form. He stormed the box, played a one-two with Hojlund, did well to shake off two or three defenders, and slotted calmly into the far corner.
GOAL! Man United 2-1 Spurs (Rashford 40)
Back in front!
United hit the post!
39 min Or rather Spurs hit their own post. Udogie tries to head Rashford’s cross out for a corner and nearly gets an own goal. To be fair, it was an excellent header.
