Manchester United scored the opening goal again, but this time they held onto that lead to grab their first three points at home in the Premier League since September. The win against Tottenham also cut the gap to fourth-placed Manchester City, while bringing some early festive cheer to the faithful at Old Trafford.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan was the man to score the only goal of the game against Spurs, with it ending a home run in the Premier League of four consecutive draws. After Harry Kane gave the ball away, Mkhitaryan ran onto a pass from Ander Herrera, before thumping the ball past Hugo Lloris to give the home team the lead and what would prove to be the only goal of the game.
Mkhitaryan would later be forced off in a stretcher after seemingly twisting his ankle under the challenge of Danny Rose, but Jose Mourinho was confident the injury was not too serious. Manchester United could have wrapped up the match had one of Paul Pogba's efforts gone in, with the midfielder striking the woodwork with a delightful freekick, while also forcing a fantastic save off Lloris courtesy an effort from 14 yards out.
"We have been playing so well but not getting results," Mourinho said. "We needed the result, even if the performance could be not as good as the others. But that was not the case. I think the performance was even better than the others, because we were playing against a very good team.
"A team that, for me, is the one that I prefer in the Premier League because of the way they play football, defensively and offensively. So even more credit to the players for that."
Manchester United are sixth in the Premier League table, three points behind the team they beat on Sunday and six adrift of Manchester City, who after their big defeat to Leicester City on Saturday, are now seven points away from leaders Chelsea. Arsenal are second, three points from the Blues, with Liverpool third, having garnered a point more than City from the 15 matches that have been played so far this season.
