Manchester United vs Tottenham: Five things we learned as super-sub Anthony Martial scores crucial goal in title race

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Manchester United beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 at Old Trafford thanks to a late Anthony Martial strike.

The 81st-minute effort settled a tense encounter in dreary, rain-soaked conditions.

Spurs missed Harry Kane but the decisive moment for them came at the back, where Eric Dier's mistake allowed Martial in to slot home and lift United three points clear of Tottenham.

But what did we learn?

Spurs have shown over the last 18 months that they are capable of rotating between three and four in defence, while the same formation switch has been utilised by Jose Mourinho when he’s attempting to nullify attacking threats.

But when both teams do it, as was the case at Old Trafford, the result is a game that rarely flows in terms of attacking football.

Manchester United managed a small sustained period where they saw numerous chances either blocked or saved by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and his Spurs defence, while Tottenham saw chance after chance go begging on their counter attack.

However, with both teams able to shift to five men at the back, it was almost impossible to create clear-cut chances.

It is certainly the in-vogue formation in the Premier League this season, but far too many of these top-of-the-table are becoming games where teams have to batter the wall down rather than play their way around it.

For a player who could cost Manchester United as much as £58m, you rather hope there’s a lot more in the tank when it comes to Anthony Martial. At 21 years old, he has time on his side, but there are players the same age – and even younger – that are starting week-in, week-out and developing quicker as a result.

Mourinho hasn’t been convinced by Martial, clearly, but when he came on for Marcus Rashford, he did so with a point to prove. As David De Gea’s goal kick made its way towards the head of Romelu Lukaku, Martial spotted an opportunity and hit the afterburners. He surged between Eric Dier and Jan Vertonghen just as the Belgian striker nodded the ball into his path, and with Dier well beaten for pace and Vertonghen reacting too slowly, Martial had the chance he needed to break the deadlock.

It’s exactly what Martial needs to do to prove he deserves a place in Mourinho’s starting line-up, but with Rashford developing by the day and Henrikh Mkhitaryan clearly in favour with his manager this season, the next question is where does he fit in?

It was billed as the match between the master and apprentice that could prove the tide had turned, yet the result shows there is life in the old dog yet. Mourinho carved out a reputation for securing important results like this, and there was also an argument to say that he did so in a more open gameplan than the one deployed against Liverpool last season.

For all the praise that has gone Mauricio Pochettino’s way, this result comes as a setback to his hopes of a “major” success this season. The Argentine has spoken of his desire to win either the Premier League or Champions League because that is what Spurs should be aiming for, but these type of results can often prove season-defining come the end of the campaign.

There’s no doubting Pochettino is one of the best in the Premier League, but he still has more to learn before he rivals the likes of Mourinho and Pep Guardiola.

With Harry Kane absent, the best goalscoring threat that Tottenham had today was not stand-in centre-forward Son Heung-min but Dele Alli, an effervescent, unstoppable-at-times number 10 whose stock continues to rise.

But Alli, despite some early flicks and promise, couldn’t have the sort of game-changing impact that he is capable of as a back three and Nemanja Matic strangled him for space where he usually likes to operate.

United obviously realised that they could play on the youngster’s hot-headed nature, hitting him with some rough stuff and provoking just the reaction that they had hoped for.

Alli is a sensational talent but shorn of his favourite partner today he was struggling to make the desired impact. He felt more likely to be sent off than score the winner – a worrying conclusion if other teams take this strategy going forward.

There had been 811 passes completed in 80 minutes of play in dreary conditions at Old Trafford, and most of them by a Tottenham team that had struggled in attack but looked to be the major benefactor of Mourinho’s instinct for conservative play.

But it only takes one pass to break it all and it needn’t be a laser-guided, no-look through ball from Kevin de Bruyne, sometimes the agricultural is just as effective.

De Gea’s long kick sailed over the midfield trenches where much of this game had been fought and was flicked on by Lukaku. That header was into the path of Martial, who profited from split-second hesitancy by Dier from which the defender wouldn’t recover. It would be down to the substitute Martial, one-on-one with Hugo Lloris but with Vertonghen desperately trying to close, to decide this game and the ripple of the net and subsequent explosion of noise told you everything you needed to know.

The home fans sang of playing football the Matt Busby way as they celebrated their impending victory, a stretch perhaps. But one thing Matt Busby and his spiritual successor, Sir Alex Ferguson, made a priority was to win the big games even if it was narrow. Mourinho did that today.