Mourinho returns to haunt Man Utd as Tottenham hit six in stunning win

Samuel Bannister

Tottenham continued their scintillating form in front of goal by condemning Manchester United to a shocking 6-1 defeat.

Fresh from scoring seven in their Europa League play-off win over Maccabi Haifa, Spurs headed to Old Trafford with Jose Mourinho looking to outwit his former employers.

United won a penalty inside the first minute when Davinson Sanchez brought down Anthony Martial in the box. As usual, Bruno Fernandes took it for the hosts – and calmly sent it into the bottom corner to give United the lead.

But the lead didn’t last long at all, due to some untidy defending from the United backline. Tanguy Ndombele pounced on a loose ball in the box to equalise barely two minutes later.

And the lightning fast start to the game continued when Son Heung-Min got in behind the United defence to latch on to Harry Kane’s through ball from a quick free kick. The South Korea forward dinked David De Gea to give Tottenham a 2-1 advatange less than eight minutes in.

United came close to an equaliser when Marcus Rashford hit the post, but the flag had been raised for offside anyway.

De Gea was the busier keeper though, having to thwart an effort from Serge Aurier as well as relying on his defenders to block shots from Sergio Reguilon and Ndombele.

Martial sees red before Spurs extend lead

Things went from bad to worse for United when Martial was sent off for raising his hand to Erik Lamela’s face.

Moments later, Kane intercepted a loose ball from Eric Bailly to Nemanja Matic, before Spurs worked the ball well in the box to set up a chance for the striker. Kane fired home to make it 3-1.

And Son added a fourth in the 37th minute when sneaking in at the nearpost to divert the ball under De Gea’s legs from a tight angle.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made a double substitution at the break, withdrawing Matic and Fernandes in favour of Fred and Scott McTominay.

But the changes didn’t have an immediate effect, as Spurs extended their lead five minutes into the second half. Serge Aurier got clear on the right-hand side of the box, producing a composed finish across De Gea to make it 5-1.

And Tottenham got a sixth when Kane fired home a penalty after Paul Pogba had brought down Ben Davies in the box. De Gea went the right way, but had no chance of saving Kane’s powerful spot kick.

United were lucky to finish the game with even 10 men when Luke Shaw was only given a yellow card for a challenge from behind on Lucas Moura.

It would have added insult to injury, as United had already suffered enough.