Manchester United 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur.
After stumbling to six draws to 10 games, his players struck a significant blow in the Premier League’s power politics by vanquishing an ambitious Tottenham Hotspur, courtesy of a bullet header from captain Nemanja Vidic and Nani’s controversial late strike.
The win conveyed little conviction, but the manner of the performance was unlikely to perturb Ferguson, after a destabilising period in which the club’s headlines have been dominated by a player not even on the field. An efficient victory against one of the top flight’s most talented sides proved that United could survive, just, without the central presence of Wayne Rooney.
Dimitar Berbatov might have been alarmingly quiet up front, but Vidic led by example with the goal to stir United, before Nani profited six minutes from time with a stunning piece of opportunism. Referee Mark Clattenbirg, having turned down a Tottenham penalty appeal, allowed goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes – who believed play had been stopped – to make a short clearance only as far as the lurking Portuguse, who gleefully slid the ball into an open net.
The dainty Nani supplied United’s creative spark all evening, dancing around the formidable Younes Kaboul with ease, but it was Ji-Sung Park who carried a similar threat on the opposite flank. Barely had the Tottenham back line settled than the South Korean fashioned a raking strike from 25 yards, beating Gomes before the shot rebounded off the post to safety.