ED BOY HAS SO MUCH CLASS
Cavani inspires win after being robbed of goal
CLASS triumphed over controversy as Edinson Cavani gave the perfect lesson in leading the line for Manchester United.
It was a lesson that Cavani could not have timed better than any of his mercurial runs, with Harry Kane on the opposite side purportedly set to consider his options if Tottenham do not finish in the top four.
Thanks to the Uruguayan, that now looks more likely than not.
Yet, by half-time, it appeared Kane was going to be instrumental in continuing Jose Mourinho’s run of never having lost a home game to United.
At the same time, Cavani had more reason to be affronted than anybody else.
His brilliantly timed run and finish after a perfect pass from Paul Pogba should have resulted in the opening goal. Cue Stockley Park.
Early in the build-up, they decided Scott McTominay’s flailing hand, which caught the cheek of Son Heung-Min, was not part of his natural running action. Referee Chris Kavanagh was advised he should look at it again.
He did, the softest of fouls had been committed and, to United’s fury, he ruled the goal out.
Amid angry verbal spats and cheap yellow cards conceded, who better than Kane to turn the knife.
His instant pass out wide to Lucas Moura opened United up barely five minutes later and the Brazilian’s cross was side-footed in at the far post by Son of all people.
It was beginning to look like one of those days for United.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer even had to endure the cold embrace of Mourinho’s arm across his shoulder as they finally headed to the dressing room at halftime. Once there, though, he somehow managed to refocus his team on the task at hand. But he still needed a
Greenwood rounds off the scoring, finishing off more good work from Pogba figurehead. Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s near-post shot was gathered awkwardly by Hugo Lloris at the second attempt four minutes after the restart, but it was encouraging. More importantly, Cavani was consistently threatening to slip between the cracks in the Spurs defence as Pogba, left, began to find increasingly intricate angles.
As it was, Lloris produced a brilliant save when Cavani did eventually find himself through on goal, but Fred was in the perfect place to hook the rebound in.
At the other end, Dean Henderson, restored to the team after sitting out the Europa League win on Thursday, did well to block another Son effort and Lloris was at full stretch again to keep out Bruno Fernandes.
Eric Dier’s foot stopped Pogba converting with a neat backheel and the pedestrian encounter of the first 30 minutes had really come alive. Even Kane could not force the ball in at the near post.
It was going to take something special to snatch the points and in fairness, that was precisely the reason Cavani was brought to Old Trafford.
The timing of his run, the angle of the header inside the post – everything was perfect and, as the ball nestled in the back of the net, the turnaround
was complete. There are strong rumours the 34-year-old will return to South America in the summer but Cavani was still keen to show against Spurs he has plenty more to offer.
Unexpected defensive brilliance, for a start.
It was his head that somehow deflected the ball on to his own post and away, just when it looked as though Moussa Sissoko was about to nod in a late equaliser.
The honour of finishing off the scoring fell to Mason Greenwood, Pogba finding yet another path through the Spurs defence to allow the substitute to add an accomplished finish with virtually the last kick.