Spurs 1 Man Utd 1

By CHARLIE WYETT
Published: Today

RIO FERDINAND has warned Manchester United they cannot afford to drop any more points in the race for the title.
But in the grand scheme of things this is not strictly true.
Despite trailing Arsenal again, this season’s Premier League crown is still United’s to lose.
Even with Chelsea thrown into the mix, United have the strongest and most experienced squad.

And, naturally, they have a manager who can turn negative results around by blaming people other than himself or his team.
Starting on Sunday, United face a massive 10 days with Manchester City in the league, Arsenal in the FA Cup and then Lyon in the Champions League.
And while they continue this latest bid for a Treble two points off the pace, they should be able to overcome the odd blip.
But — and it’s a big but — if they start repeating displays like the one they delivered in North London on Saturday, then the title could be heading back to the capital.
Ferguson was keen to criticise the display of referee Mark Clattenburg who, in his view, was guilty of poor decisions in favour of Spurs.
But what Fergie appeared to forget was that for 76 minutes the champions were outplayed by a team whose improvement under Juande Ramos has been impressive.
It was not until 14 minutes from time that United had their first decent attempt on goal.
And it was highly unfortunate that four minutes into stoppage time, Nani’s corner was put into his own net by Michael Dawson — the best player on the pitch.
England international Ferdinand was one of the few United players who played to their full potential.

BERBATOV ... opener
And he said: “I’d like to think we’re not going to drop any more points. We will try to win all our games if we can. The team that drops the least points wins the league and, hopefully, it will be us.
“We never say die, we never give up. You’ve seen us do it many times over the years, getting late equalisers and winners — and we managed to nick a draw.
“Tottenham made us work hard. You have to earn your points here and we managed to pick up a draw.
“You have to take it as a good point the way the game went.
“We changed our game a bit at half-time, we were a bit quicker on the ball and got our tempo up and that’s when we’re at our best.
“We always knew it was going to be a tough game and they didn’t disappoint us. But we’ve shown our resolve.”
Spurs are beginning to look like a seriously good side.
They deservedly took the lead when Aaron Lennon rounded Owen Hargreaves and keeper Edwin van der Sar could only parry his cross to Dimitar Berbatov. The Bulgarian striker showed great reactions to prod the ball into the net.
United insisted Jermaine Jenas handled the ball in the build-up but Clattenburg made the right decision by allowing play to continue.
Spurs had chances to put the game beyond all doubt. Berbatov went close before partner Robbie Keane hit a poor shot straight at Van der Sar from a good position.
United finally sorted themselves out in the latter stages.
Cristiano Ronaldo did not have too much influence — although he is certainly allowed the odd duff performance.
Wayne Rooney had few chances but worked extremely hard — often helping out the defence — while Nani made a positive impact after arriving on the hour.
And it was his well-placed corner which proved decisive. Dawson had no option but to connect with the ball which was heading straight to Carlos Tevez. But sadly for the centre-back, he ended up on the scoresheet.
Ferguson then moaned about Clattenburg, who admittedly was a little too keen to flash his cards. But he was right to book Rooney for diving.
The Old Trafford boss said: “There is something wrong when Manchester United get seven bookings.
“For me, the first foul the referee should have acted on was on Cristiano Ronaldo in the first half. He was hacked down and, for me, it was a red.
“He’s kicked him from the back. He spent 30 seconds talking to Jenas.
“Up to that point, up to half-time, I thought the whole game was looking like it was going to go to pieces as a football spectacle.
“The referee settled down in the second half but for us to get seven bookings, something is wrong.
“If Rooney dived and the referee deems it, he’s right to book him.
“But a few minutes later Tom Huddlestone dived, he’s already been booked, and he did nothing.
“He told the player to get up on his feet and did nothing about it. You have to ask if that is fair.
“Has he been fair to both teams? No he’s not, because that was a dive. If Rooney’s booked for it, Huddlestone should be booked for it.”
Jonathan Woodgate looked a class act alongside Dawson for Spurs while new signing Alan Hutton impressed at right-back in his first match in
the Premier League. And for the first hour Jenas and Huddlestone bossed the midfield.
Hutton, a £9million arrival from Rangers, believes some of United’s players were too keen to hit the deck.

He said: “The goal was hard to take. We put so much into the game and, overall, we deserved the three points.
“But we were playing one of the best teams in the league, so it happens.
“I felt a couple of times the United players went down rather easily.
“I thought I did all right. It was a good game to make my debut. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
A notable absentee from the Spurs team was skipper Ledley King.
Ramos said: “At the moment, we are using him when we can.”