United five clear with Spurs win

Tottenham 0, Manchester United 2

Manchester United took a huge step towards the Premiership title as Paul Scholes and Ruud van Nistelrooy struck at White Hart Lane to put Alex Ferguson’s side five points clear of Arsenal.

The Gunners’ north London rivals somehow held out for 68 minutes before Scholes broke the deadlock and then van Nistelrooy finally found a way past inspired Spurs keeper Kasey Keller in injury-time.

While Ferguson brought on Quinton Fortune for Solskjaer, Spurs responded by introducing Steffen Iversen and Bunjevcevic for the ineffective duo of Kazuyuki Toda and Matthew Etherington.

The home side certainly gave United a few nervous late moments, with Poyet heading narrowly wide from a free-kick and Bunjevcevic went sprawling in the area but failed to win a penalty.

Keller’s reflexes managed to deny van Nistelrooy once more, but finally the Dutchman found a way past the Spurs keeper in injury-time from Fortune’s decisive break.

United were home and dry. The title is theirs to lose now.