Scholes fires Ferguson's sense of triumph

Tottenham Hotspur 0 Manchester United

For the second time in a dozen days Sir Alex Ferguson bestrode the turf of a north London football ground thumping the air with delight. Like his players' assault on the Premiership, the Manchester United manager is timing his triumphalism to perfection.

This facile win over a supine Tottenham side moved United five points clear of Arsenal. The champions have a game in hand but no longer any advantage on goal difference. Two further United victories, against Charlton and Everton, will clinch the title. Arsenal's best hope lies with the latter who are likely to need at least a point from United to claim a European place.

Both should provide sterner opposition than Tottenham, who were simply awful. Several players seemed to have taken to heart the desire of their more rabid supporters that they should lose rather than revive Arsenal's fading challenge. The passing was abysmal, with possession so wantonly squandered that their eighth-place shames the Premiership. Sloppy and naïve, their defending was only redeemed by an effort not shown elsewhere on the pitch.

Without Kasey Keller, Tottenham would have been beyond recovery by the break. When the interval came, and selected spectators were asked to dribble around deckchairs before attempting to score in a goal guarded by Tottenham's cockerel mascot, the cuddly bird was the only change from previous action in the home goalmouth. Instead, Keller barred the way, defying Ruud van Nistelrooy four times.

Eventually Tottenham's cover collapsed so completely even Keller was helpless, Paul Scholes scoring after 68 minutes and Van Nistelrooy sending Ferguson leaping from the bench to dance a jig in injury time. The Dutchman thus became only the second Manchester United player to score 40 goals in a season. The other was Denis Law, who scored 46 in 1963-64. United finished trophyless that season, a fate which is increasingly unlikely to be repeated.

"When you miss a few chances you start to wonder what sort of day it will be," said Ferguson. "It was a matter of perseverance. Even at 0-0 I had a sense we would not lose."

The pre-match interest had focussed as much on reading the runes of the team-sheet as the Premiership table. David Beckham, on his return to his roots, was recalled but it was impossible to read anything into this as both Juan Sebastian Veron and Nicky Butt were ruled out through injury, with neither fit enough to make the bench. The attention turned to Fabien Barthez, who was dropped. Ferguson tacitly admitted he was at fault in the midweek defeat to Real Madrid when he said: "Fabien needed a break."

The Leytonstone-born Beckham was back on the right wing, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer swapping flanks to operate in an advanced position on the left and Ryan Giggs given a floating role behind Van Nistelrooy. While it took Tottenham until half-time to come to terms with the formation, there was no excuse for Dean Richards allowing Van Nistelrooy to run unchallenged on to Roy Carroll's clearance after 10 seconds. Keller was alert and he advanced smartly to block the shot.

It was the first act of compelling individual contest. While Stephen Carr's attentions were a factor in Van Nistelrooy shooting wide when Giggs set him up after 20 minutes, Keller was the saviour when Ledley King allowed the ball to run under his foot nine minutes later. He followed up this brilliant one-handed stop by leaping to save Van Nistelrooy's near-post header from Beckham's 31st-minute cross. Eight minutes later he stole the ball off Van Nistelrooy's toes after Anthony Gardner had let the centre-forward slip away from him and on to Roy Keane's pass.

This was one of many telling interventions by Keane, who seemed determined to counter suggestions that he was an ailing force. From the sixth minute, when he gave Wes Brown a fearsome roasting, it was clear that we were in the presence of the old Keane. Afterwards he admitted: "It's been a hard season with my hip operation, but when you play a game like today it's worth it."

Aside from an early counter-attack by Robbie Keane, which produced a fine save from Carroll, and a glancing header Richards put wide from a set-piece, Tottenham had offered nothing. Teddy Sheringham was utterly out of touch and Robbie Keane outmanned. Unable to keep the ball, they had only 40 per cent of first-half possession. Although the centre-halves tightened up after the break, little else changed: Keller saving from Solskjaer and Beckham, and Giggs and Van Nistelrooy going close.

Though Giggs had proved, again, there is far more to his game than wing play, Ferguson freshened the attack, switching him with Solskjaer. It was a telling change. Kazuyuki Toda, perhaps unsettled by risking the wrath of his country in kicking Beckham, gave the ball away again, this time to the England captain. After trading passes with Van Nistelrooy, Beckham picked out Scholes, who flicked on to Giggs, now out wide. Scholes kept running and headed in the subsequent cross.

Game over? Not quite. Tottenham almost gained a larcenous point, Gus Poyet glancing wide Carr's free-kick. United, remembering Arsenal's calamity at Bolton, moved to settle the match. Giggs should have done, after a wild clearance from Gardner. Then Quinton Fortune, having run without challenge from inside his own half to the edge of the Spurs box, found Van Nistelrooy gliding free of Mauricio Taricco to tap in. An eighth title in 11 years is close enough to smell.

Goals: Scholes (69) 0-1; Van Nistelrooy (90) 0-2.

Tottenham Hotspur (4-4-2): Keller 9; Carr 5, King 5, Richards 4 (Gardner 4, 30), Taricco 4; Davies 5, Toda 2 (Bunjevcevic, 78), Poyet 4, Etherington 3 (Iversen, 78); Keane 4, Sheringham 3. Substitutes not used: Sullivan (gk), Acimovic.

Manchester United (4-4-1-1): Carroll 5; Brown 4 (G Neville 5, 54), Ferdinand 5, Silvestre 5, O'Shea 6; Beckham 6, Keane 8, Scholes 6, Solskjaer 5 (Fortune 6, 71); Giggs 7; Van Nistelrooy 6. Substitutes not used: Ricardo (gk), Blanc, Forlan, Fortune.

Referee: J Winter (Stockton) 6.

Man of the match: Keane.

Attendance: 36,073.