EPL: Manchester United 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur

Anthony Martial celebrates after opening the scoring

Anthony Martial's late goal gave Manchester United a 1-0 win over Tottenham to consolidate second place in the Premier League.

The two sides went into the game at Old Trafford locked on 20 points – five behind leaders Manchester City – and desperately looking to win in order to stay in touch with Pep Guardiola’s side.

And, following a largely forgettable first half, the action livened up after the break with both sides having chances to break the deadlock.

However, it was substitute Martial who struck the only goal of the game inside the final 10 minutes as United made it five successive wins on home soil and ended Spurs’ 100% record on the road in the process.

United started brightly but took until the 12th minute for a first serious effort when Marcus Rashford tried his luck with a free-kick from distance but Hugo Lloris got down to push the ball wide of his upright.

At the other end Spurs were restricted to respective long-range strikes from Serge Aurier and Moussa Sissoko which were comfortably held by David de Gea.

Sissoko was gifted a chance to fire the visitors ahead on 28 minutes when De Gea collided with Phil Jones and dropped a Ben Davies’ left-wing cross into his path inside the United area, but the Frenchman made a complete hash of his effort as it sailed high and wide.

United had two chances to get their noses in front in the opening 10 minutes of the second half when Lloris spilled a routine shot from Henrikh Mkhitaryan into the path of Rashford, but Davies got there first to divert the ball wide of his own goal before the United man could score a tap-in.

A minute later a low cross from the left took a deflection and eluded Lloris but Romelu Lukaku was also unable to get a vital touch to turn the ball home in the middle of the area.

United continued to press and Antonio Valencia was not far away with a blistering strike from the edge of the area which flew just over the crossbar on 65 minutes.

On 73 minutes Lukaku charged into the left side of the area and got a shot off at goal which Lloris got a hand to and diverted wide of his far post.

Spurs’ best chance arrived in the 77th minute when Christian Eriksen chipped the ball into the United area for Dele Alli to get on the end of. And, while the midfielder beat the advancing De Gea to the ball, he failed to divert his close-range effort inside the post.

United went back up the other end and went even closer two minutes later when Lukaku met Jesse Lingard’s left-wing cross in the area but his downward header bounced off the foot of the post with Lloris beaten.

However, United won the game in the 81st minute when Lukaku flicked on De Gea’s long ball upfield into the path of Martial who got between two defenders and hit a left-foot strike into the ground which bounced over the grounded Lloris and into the far corner.