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United boss laments tight finish in Spurs clash

Henrikh Mkhitaryan's scored his first Premier League goal after 29 minutes to put the home side ahead, and United survived a late spell of Spurs pressure to see out their first home win in the league since a 4-1 triumph over Leicester City in late September.

Published : Dec 12, 2016 03:18 IST

Manchester United did enough to beat Tottenham by more than a solitary goal after they ended a run of poor Premier League home form with a 1-0 victory, according to boss Jose Mourinho.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan's scored his first Premier League goal after 29 minutes to put the home side ahead, and United survived a late spell of Spurs pressure to see out their first home win in the league since a 4-1 triumph over Leicester City in late September.

Despite Spurs having the bulk of the possession, United created the better of the goalscoring opportunities across the course of the game and Paul Pogba hit the frame of the goal with a free-kick in the second half.

Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris also pulled off a number of good saves to deny United a second goal, but Mourinho was left relieved to have ended a run of three consecutive draws at home in the league.

He told Sky Sports: "We didn't deserve to spend the last 15 minutes with our hearts in our hands because we did enough to score a second goal and kill the game.

"The post and Lloris meant it was just 1-0 but at this moment 1-0 is magic because we needed these three points.

"Everybody was feeling that it could be more of the same. We had opportunities to score the second goal in the first half and the second half but we didn't score. Then we are always at risk."

Mourinho, who named an unchanged line-up from the side that drew 1-1 against Everton a week earlier, added: "I didn't change the team from Everton to this match because the team is playing well.

"Now we go away to Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion. Life is not easy but we are happy with the evolution of the team and we are happy because the players believe in what we are doing."

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