LONDON // Manchester United showed Tottenham Hotspur how far they still need to travel to challenge at the top of the English Premier League with a superb 10-man 3-1 victory at White Hart Lane. After Manchester City had beaten Arsenal 4-2, Spurs, who had won their first four games of the season, must have thought they too were destined for a "big-four" scalp when Jermain Defoe put them ahead with a bicycle kick in the first minute.
United recovered well, however, levelling through Ryan Giggs and taking a deserved lead late in the first half with Anderson's first goal for the club. United had midfielder Paul Scholes harshly sent off for a second booking after an hour but remained the more dangerous side and wrapped up a terrific win with a length-of-the field counter-attack superbly finished by Wayne Rooney. The Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson felt his side had come through a tough examination.
"It was always going to be hard game," Ferguson told ESPN. "Tottenham are in great form and they got off to a fantastic start in the first minutes of the game. "It was a marvellous finish from Defoe but it was early in the game, still 90 minutes to play. We had to gather our game and show composure." Ferguson admitted he only started to breathe easily after Rooney had struck. "It was at a great time, it killed the game," he said. "We had been under the cosh because of the 10 men. The goal finished the game."
The Scot was far from happy with the dismissal of Scholes. He said: "It was terrible sending off, I think the referee got it wrong. I thought it was a bad sending off. I have looked at the video twice and I don't see any sending off. I think he has been sent off because his name is Paul Scholes." * With agencies
