Tottenham Hotspur ultimately recorded another convincing victory but Mauricio Pochettino’s players initially struggled to overcome a Manchester United side replicating their pressing tactics.

In the opening 20 minutes, United had the upper hand in terms of territory and possession. Their midfield pushed forward and prevented Spurs from building play gradually, with the centre-forward Marcus Rashford starting the press, backed up by Jesse Lingard, while Morgan Schneiderlin pushed high up the pitch to shut down Mousa Dembélé or Eric Dier. In a deeper position, Michael Carrick marked Tottenham’s attacking midfielder Dele Alli, even when the youngster attempted to run beyond the lone centre-forward Harry Kane. Spurs struggled to work the ball through midfield.

The home side gradually took control, however, by outperforming United down the flanks. The Spurs right-back Kyle Walker was pinned back by Anthony Martial during the opening 20 minutes but as the tempo dropped he regularly sprinted forward, nearly drawing a foul from United left-back Marcos Rojo in the penalty box.

On the other flank, Christian Eriksen drifted inside to drag the United left-back Timothy Fosu-Mensah into narrow positions, and while Fosu-Mensah performed extremely impressively and covered for his centre‑backs effectively, it left a gaping hole in the right-back zone. Érik Lamela, briefly switching flanks, exploited that space and should have put Spurs 1-0 ahead with a simple headed chance.

The real threat, however, was the relentless overlapping of the left‑back Danny Rose and Louis van Gaal surprisingly neglected to nullify him.

The Dutchman persisted with Juan Mata on the right flank, despite his obvious inability to keep pace with Rose. That was surely a job for the younger, energetic, tactically disciplined Lingard, who remained in a central role.

That was not Van Gaal’s only curious decision: at half-time, he removed the centre-forward Rashford and introduced Ashley Young as a straight swap – rather than using Young in his natural role out wide, with Martial moving upfront. Therefore, for the majority of the second half, none of United’s front four appeared to be playing in the right position.

The game-changing moment, however, came after 68 minutes when Fosu-Mensah limped off and was replaced by Matteo Darmian. The Italian has struggled in his debut Premier League campaign and within 10 minutes of his introduction, United were 3-0 behind. All three goals originated from his flank, including one from a free-kick he had conceded for a rash foul on Kane.

Spurs’ composure in the final third was exceptional. Eriksen’s measured, curling pass behind the United defence for Alli’s opener was hugely impressive, as was Rose’s precise, driven low ball for Lamela. Spurs’ decision-making was consistently impressive, partly because, once again, they showed absolutely no sign of fatigue.

At 3-0 up, Walker was caught offside in the opposition six-yard box when attempting to convert yet another left-wing cross, a perfect demonstration of Spurs’ energy levels. That’s the problem with attempting to out-press Spurs – causing problems in the opening stages is one thing but sustaining that performance for 90 minutes appears almost impossible.