The sight of Marcus Rashford in smooth and pacy flow, the components of his technique in perfect sync, would once have delighted José Mourinho.

Not here. Mourinho had wanted to mark his return to Manchester United with a fourth win out of four with Tottenham; to make his biggest statement yet with his new club.

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Instead, Rashford comprehensively upstaged him, scoring both of the goals in a United victory that ought to have been more emphatic, such was their first-half dominance, to provide his current manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, with a much needed tonic.

Solskjær had overseen United’s worst start to a season since 1988 but, not for the first time at this venue, his team raised their levels against a rival with pedigree. It had been a similar story in the win over Chelsea and the draw against Liverpool.

Rashford was unplayable at times, particularly in the first 30 minutes, when he scored once and might have had more. He saw the Spurs goalkeeper, Paulo Gazzaniga, tip one vicious long-range shot against the crossbar. He was a threat for most of the evening and, after a moment of sorcery from Dele Alli had temporarily hauled Spurs level, Rashford earned and converted the penalty that proved to be the winner.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Dele Alli scores past David de Gea after deceiving Fred and Ashley Young with a sublime first touch on a dropping ball. Photograph: Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images

The statistics show that Rashford now has 12 goals for United this season, nine of them in the Premier League, and he has certainly hit a rich vein of form. Since the middle of October he has scored nine in 10 at club level.

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Yet it was his all-round game that propelled United to a result that lifted them to sixth in the table; his positivity and directness; the feeling, to borrow a phrase from Solskjær, that he was playing in his own back yard.

“Doubters just spur me on,” Rashford tweeted after the game, which set a few tongues wagging. Was it a dig at Mourinho, with whom he did not always see eye to eye? Whatever the interpretation, Rashford has got United feeling a bit better about themselves before Saturday’s derby at Manchester City and he was not the only plus point for the team.

Marcus Rashford (@MarcusRashford) Doubters just spur me on 🤷🏾‍♂️



A proper Old Trafford night and a great 3 points 🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/58eroLbcJm

Scott McTominay, back from injury after one light training session with the reserves, was authoritative in midfield alongside Fred and behind Jesse Lingard, who made things happen from the No 10 role. Solskjær would describe McTominay as “undroppable”.

Mourinho’s presence at a stadium where he spent two and a half seasons was always going to be a sideshow and, although he had described United as a “closed chapter” for him, he might still have wanted to hear a chant from the home crowd as acknowledgement for his efforts. That did not happen.

Instead, the United support serenaded Solskjær, with their first songs about him following Rashford’s early breakthrough. Lingard robbed Davinson Sánchez and, when the ball broke to Rashford on the left-hand corner of the area, he unloaded a shot that was designed to bounce awkwardly in front of Gazzaniga. The Argentinian could only help it in off the inside of his near post – a grisly error.

Mourinho had restored Lucas Moura to his front four and preferred Moussa Sissoko to Eric Dier in midfield – another attack-minded move – but it was United who pressed with the greater intensity for much of the first half. They could have been out of sight by the half-hour. They had the chances.

Rashford was determined to showcase his shooting technique and, after fizzing a free-kick narrowly wide, he was denied by a combination of Gazzaniga and the woodwork. In between times, Mason Greenwood – who played in place of the injured Anthony Martial – was thwarted by a fine Gazzaniga block while Rashford and Lingard went close with curlers.

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When Spurs bounced up off the canvas, it was the latest illustration of Alli’s rebirth under Mourinho. The midfielder had Fred and Ashley Young for company inside the area as he eyed a dropping ball after David de Gea had saved from Serge Aurier. The United players appeared to have the situation under control. Yet with a sumptuous touch, Alli eased the ball over his head, wrong-footing his markers, before surging on to it and finishing past De Gea. There would be a VAR check to investigate a possible brush of the ball against Alli’s arm. There was nothing untoward.

Back came United after the interval. Mourinho complained about the non-award of a throw-in for his team but he ought to have been angrier at Sissoko for how he nibbled at Rashford inside the area. United had missed four of their previous six penalties this season but Rashford never looked like worsening that statistic. This was his night.

The second half was cagier. Son Heung-min saw a shot blocked by Fred while, at the other end, Daniel James twice worked Gazzaniga. Solskjær sought to close out the result with defensive substitutions and, had Spurs equalised, it is a fair bet that the criticism would have been fierce. The visitors built up a head of steam in the final 15 minutes and, amid mounting tension, Aurier and Alli went close. United had done enough.