By Samuel A. February 16, 2025
Tottenham Hotspur looked more like the team they once were before their injury woes as returnees James Maddison and Guglielmo Vicario helped beat Manchester United 1-0 to end their long winless run at home and expose the problems facing Ruben Amorim and his recent injury-hit squad.
Maddison – who had missed the last five consecutive Premier League games – pounced when Andre Onana parried Lucas Bergvall’s first half shot to give Spurs the lead, while Vicario, on his first appearance since November 23, repeatedly denied Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund.
In the battle of two of Premier League’s biggest underperformers this season, it was Spurs who looked like they could finally be on an upward curve, as key players return from the treatment room after months of injury issues. They celebrated ending a seven game wait for a league win on their patch, as well as a third win over United across all competitions this term. It’s the first time since 1989/90 they’ve done that. Spurs are now up to 12th after back-to-back wins in the Premier League for just the second time this season – they also beat Brentford and United consecutively in September.
Amorim’s side had their chances, most glaringly, when Garnacho blazed over when unmarked in the box and Joshua Zirkzee nodded wide, but out of possession, were regularly stretched open. With Amad Diallo likely out for the season, Manuel Ugarte, Kobbie Mainoo and Leny Yoro sidelined, it didn’t look like the Reds were going to get anything out of this game. United languish 15th in the table and are in desperate need of a spark if they are to make a success of a season.
“The result was everything”, Ange said. “Our league position is not anywhere near what it should be and today was an opportunity to start addressing that. We had a good week of training and had players back. We’ve had it tough the last few months, not for a lack of effort. It was important to gain some traction. We can play better and I think we will once we get the boys back up to speed. Our press was better. We made it hard for Man Utd to get out. We looked sharper but still lacked fluency in the final third. It was a decent effort.”
He also talked about United and their injury crisis, pointing out that he didn’t gain any sympathy from other coaches: “Man United with many injured players? If I check my office, I don’t have any sympathy cards from other coaches. I could see Rúben there, players out of position, kids on the bench… welcome to my world. But that’s for 1 game. Now do that for 2 months”.
