Rumours of the death of the Premier League title race have been greatly exaggerated. In a week when champions Manchester City dropped points at newly-promoted Wolves, Tottenham joined Chelsea and Liverpool — as well as Watford — in maintaining their 100 per cent start to the season with a resounding win at Old Trafford.

Harry Kane, who opened the scoring with a cleverly guided header before Lucas Moura’s clinical double, had said Spurs could announce themselves as title contenders with a first win at Old Trafford under Mauricio Pochettino.

After inflicting a biggest-ever home defeat on United boss Jose Mourinho, Spurs should be considered genuine challengers for the title.

Pochettino has previously blamed slow starts and Spurs’ away form at other members of the top six on their failure to catch Leicester and Chelsea in two of the last three seasons, but they have now begun a campaign with three straight wins for the first time since 2009-10 and ended another away-day hoodoo.

If they beat Watford next weekend, Spurs will host Liverpool at Wembley on September 15 in a match that could determine this season’s early Premier League pace-setters.

Talk of Mourinho’s demise, which dogged the build-up to this game, may not have been overstated, however, and the Portuguese finished another memorable post-match press conference by demanding more respect for his three Premier League titles.

Mourinho, who had rung the changes to his team, increasingly appears a man on the brink.

Ultimately, Spurs’ first win at United since 2014 said more about the hosts — a point acknowledged by the travelling supporters, who turned their attention from serenading man-of-the-match Lucas to remind Mourinho: “You’re not special any more.”

If the Portuguese had endured a tough week, so too had Pochettino, whose captain Hugo Lloris was charged with drink-driving in the early hours of Friday morning.

The Spurs boss insisted he never considered stripping Lloris of the armband and the goalkeeper’s crucial one-handed save from Romelu Lukaku denied United an immediate equaliser after Kane had opened the scoring on 50 minutes with a terrific header from Kieran Trippier’s corner.

The miss was one of two by Lukaku at crucial points either side of half-time, the first when he latched on to Danny Rose’s feeble back-pass, rounded Lloris but fired wide of the post.

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It was the best chance of an opening period desperately low on quality, with both teams wasteful in possession and hesitant in the final third.

Spurs lacked rhythm and width, with left-back Rose, making his first appearance of the season, and Mousa Dembele, on his first start, looking particularly rusty.

It all pointed to another frustrating outing for Spurs at Old Trafford but Pochettino, to his credit, pushed Kane and Christian Eriksen into the channels after half-time and, within four minutes, the Dane combined with Dele Alli to win the corner for Kane’s opener — his first goal at the ground. The England captain had not scored in August before the 3-1 win over Fulham last weekend but now two have come in quick succession.

Spurs had lost their previous four League visits to United under Pochettino without scoring but they quickly added a second, Eriksen again finding space on the right and crossing low for Lucas, who finished first time.

Mourinho called for Alexis Sanchez and Marouane Fellaini as United attempted to rally but they could find no way past Toby Alderweireld and the Spurs defence. The Belgian now appears to be fully rehabilitated — the first player to cross Pochettino and survive — and his majestic performance must have been particularly galling for Mourinho, who used Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Ander Herrera and Victor Lindelof in central defence over the 90 minutes.

Smalling’s fragile confidence was cruelly exposed when Lucas skinned him and fired coolly past David de Gea six minutes from time for his third goal in two games.

Pochettino turned down the chance to praise the Brazilian afterwards, instead crediting chief scout Steve Hitchen, who recommended signing Lucas in January.

But having previously missed out on signing Sadio Mane and Wilfried Zaha, Pochettino must be wondering if he has finally stumbled upon the prolific and pacy wing-forward that can elevate Spurs to the next level.

No club has lost more Premier League games at an opposition ground than Spurs at Old Trafford, so Monday night felt like another milestone for Spurs under Pochettino to follow last season’s win at Chelsea — their first at Stamford Bridge in 28 years.

Spurs may have no new signings but they have laid down a marker to the rest of the Premier League with the first big statement win of the season.