Tottenham Hotspur pulled off a remarkable second-half turnaround to draw 2-2 with Manchester United in a high-stakes Premier League affair on Thursday in north London.
Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford put Man United in control in the first half, but Pedro Porro’s moment of magic early in the second half for Spurs and Son Heung-Min’s late strike saw the top-six rivals settle for a point apiece.
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The result sees Tottenham improbably move up to fifth place on 54 points — ahead of Aston Villa on goal difference — and United stay in fourth on 60 points, two behind Thursday winners Newcastle United in third.
Sancho opened the scoring for Erik ten Hag’s side on seven minutes with help from Rashford, taking a pass from his United teammate, navigating tight space in the area and unleashing a low line drive that beat Fraser Forster at his far post.
Spurs settled into the game as the half wore on and David de Gea was forced into a fine reflex save from Ivan Perisic’s flicked-on header moments after Richarlison had broken free on goal only to see his centering pass to a wide open Son blocked to safety by the United defence.
United began to struggle to get the ball out of their own end as the half played out and Richarlison continued to be a menace down the left flank, but to no effect.
The prolific Rashford caused Tottenham trouble just before the break on two occasions before making good on his third to set United back on track. The England international collected Bruno Fernandes’ ball over the top, turned Eric Dier inside out in the penalty area and fired a shot past Forster to give the visitors a 2-0 advantage at half-time.
A tepid Spurs team came roaring out of the dressing room and cut United’s lead in half on 55 minutes when Porro settled Diogo Dalot’s clearance and cleverly put one into the upper right corner of De Gea’s net with the outside of his right foot.
The hosts nearly gave the advantage right back seconds later, but Fernandes almost impossibly hit the crossbar with only Forster to beat after tiptoeing between a pair of Spurs defenders in the middle of the penalty area.
Now in charge of the game, Tottenham fashioned one chance after another and should have drawn level before 70 minutes through Dier, but the longtime Spur failed to even get his wide-open header on frame when left all alone at the top of United’s 6-yard box.
A deserved second for Spurs finally came when Harry Kane broke down the right flank and fizzed a low rocket to the far post for the waiting Son to sweep home and give the rollicking home supporters even more to cheer about.
The second-half fight-back helped stop a once promising campaign for Tottenham from morphing into catastrophe, with new interim coach Ryan Mason likely thrilled to walk away with a point after stepping in for the sacked Cristian Stellini.
