Manchester United was happy to come away from White Hart Lane with a scoreless draw after young Brazilian right back Rafael Da Silva was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence with 16 minutes of normal time left to play in Sunday’s English Premier League blockbuster.
Referee Mike Dean’s decision to give out the second yellow was highly controversial as video replays showed that Rafael was actually trying to avoid Tottenham’s Benoit Assou-Ekotto rather than making a direct challenge, and although he did catch the Spurs full-back’s ankle it was purely accidental. Such was the anger of United’s players at the perceived injustice that Wayne Rooney was also booked for dissent.
United’s defense, with Nemandja Vidic back to partner Rio Ferdinand in the center, was impressive all game and coped well enough after the sending-off. Sir Alex Ferguson said on www.manutd.com, “I thought our defenders were particularly good. Defensively we kept our nerve.”
In fact Spurs did create chances, but for the most part were unable to hit the target, and the returning Edwin van der Sar had only a couple of shots to save for the entire game and those were of the comfortable variety.
The match started at a frantic pace with Tottenham keen to end their United jinx of 10 years without a win, just as they had ended their Arsenal hoodoo before Christmas.
But it was United who created the first chance after only two minutes when the returning Wayne Rooney skewed his shot from the right-hand edge of the penalty area across the face of goal.
Spurs’ first opportunity came when Alan Hutton went on a foray down the right wing and put in a near post cross along the ground which Peter Crouch redirected to the wrong side of the upright. Truth be told, the England striker really should have scored.
It was end to end stuff for most of the first half and, though highly entertaining for the spectators, somewhat error strewn with both teams giving the ball away far too easily.
It would be fair to say that Spurs were having the best of it and both United fullbacks had their work cut out with Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon respectively.
At the other end Rooney brought Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes into the action with a swerving first-timer from the edge of the box on 22 minutes.
Rafael turned on the style with another fine run at the Spurs defense in the first minute of the second half. Almost immediately after, Ryan Giggs tried his luck from long range but the shot went wide. The Welsh veteran was playing his 600th league game for the club—only six shy of Bobby Charlton’s United record.
The pace slackened in the second half and it became more of a cat and mouse affair. United were enjoying more of the ball and their best effort of the encounter came in the 51st minute when Gomes got down well to divert an excellent strike from Rooney around the post.
Spurs pressed hard for a winner after the Rafael sending off but the closest they came was a curling shot by Luka Modric from the edge of the area that failed to trouble van der Sar. United might even have nicked it at the death when Giggs, Javier Hernandez, and Rooney combined for a rare breakaway but the final product was not forthcoming.
Spurs boss Harry Redknap summed up the final 20 minutes saying on www.tottenhamhotspur.com, “The two center-halves are fantastic with [Patrice] Evra, van der Sar, they’ve won Champions League with that team, they are difficult to break down and difficult to beat.
“We had a real go at it and we couldn’t have been more open when they went down to 10 men.”
For his part Sir Alex was happy in the end to settle for another away draw and extend his team’s unbeaten streak to 21 games. “It was a decent point for us so I can’t complain,” he said.
While United’s point took them back to the top on goal difference over Manchester City, Tottenham’s was not enough to return them to the top four and they now sit a point behind Chelsea in fifth place.
Derby Day
Sunday featured three derby matches that all ended in draws. In a 1–1 draw at St. Andrews, Birmingham City deservedly took the lead on 49 minutes through Roger Johnson, but Aston Villa came back strongly in the final 20 minutes. James Collins’s 73rd minute strike deflected off Liam Ridgewell and past Ben Foster to give them a share of the points. Substitute Nathan Delfouneso almost won it for the visitors with a fabulous dipping shot from long range that hit the bar.The score was also 1–1 in the North-East derby at the Stadium of Light. A cheeky back heel from Kevin Nolan on 52 minutes looked to have secured a season double for Newcastle United over Sunderland, but a last gasp equalizer from Ghanaian Asamoah Gyan guaranteed the Wearsiders a share of the spoils.
With Kenny Dalglish back at his spiritual home of Anfield in an official capacity for the first time in 20 years, expectations were high for the red half of Merseyside. Liverpool did not disappoint and duly took the lead on 29 minutes when Raul Meireles smacked home his first goal for the club.
However, the signs were looking ominous when Everton turned the game around in the first seven minutes of the second half with goals from Sylvain Distin and Jermaine Beckford. The Kop and Liverpool fans around the world, breathed a collective sigh of relief when Dirk Kuyt struck the equalizer from the penalty spot on 68 minutes after Tim Howard had brought down Maxi Rodriguez.
The two Merseyside clubs are level on 26 points, only four points above the relegation places, and occupying 12th and 13th places respectively. It must be many years since a Merseyside derby was probably the least important game of the weekend fixture list—at any rate, for those not directly involved.
