Tottenham rescued a draw at Old Trafford with an injury-time equaliser, despite finishing the match with 10 men after Rodrigo Bentancur was sent off for headbutting Luke Shaw.
Bentancur had been introduced as a 65th-minute substitute for Lucas Bergvall, but his contribution was brief and costly. BBC Sport’s ratings described his reaction to a shove from Shaw as idiotic and deserving of the dismissal, and marked him down accordingly. The score attached to his name in the ratings was 1.
Shaw, one of Manchester United’s more consistent performers on the night, had earlier forced a corner with a forward run early in the second period and made a vital intervention at the other end. He was, however, judged lucky to avoid a red card himself for his reactionary shove on Bentancur.
United had taken the lead through Bryan Mbeumo, who turned smartly to score after being found by a pass from Matheus Cunha. Mbeumo had been operating as the lead striker without sufficient support to be consistently effective, but he led a counter-attack and took his goal well, earning a rating of 8.
The visitors’ equaliser was set up by Sandro Tonali, who had been given far too much room in the centre of the pitch and whose cross led to the goal. Dominic Solanke, named captain in a much-changed Tottenham starting line-up, eventually got the goal. Solanke had earlier wasted a glorious chance to give Spurs an early lead and fired over from a central position in the second half. Lisandro Martinez, partnered with Harry Maguire at the heart of the United defence, was outmuscled by Solanke for the equaliser.
Savio was named player of the match, finishing with an average rating of 5.89. His speed was a huge threat to the home defence, one touch took him past Bruno Fernandes, and a goalbound shot was turned away by Kobbie Mainoo.
There were familiar concerns for United. Goalkeeper Senne Lammens made a major early error that could have had disastrous consequences before recovering to save from Solanke, and he might have done better for the equaliser. Bruno Fernandes was described as a shadow of the player who won all the player of the year awards last season, and his reluctance to shoot when the opportunity arose suggested his confidence has dipped. Cunha’s reaction to negativity from the stands showed he cares, but he is among those yet to reach last term’s levels. United made a triple change on 59 minutes, sending on Diogo Dalot, Carlos Baleba and Joshua Zirkzee; Baleba’s introduction injected life into the home crowd and Zirkzee was quickly into the action to force a corner.
Tottenham’s much-changed side had its own mixed returns. Bergvall brought plenty of energy in midfield and worked incredibly hard, though his end product was lacking, while Conor Gallagher was booked early for a foul on Maguire and Mohammed Kudus drove a first-half chance wide before being replaced. Micky van de Ven, introduced in the 74th minute as Tottenham saw out the closing stages a man light, kept his side solid despite the numerical disadvantage. Marmoush and Bentancur came on at 65, James Maddison and Van de Ven at 74, and Mateus Fernandes at 89.
BBC Sport’s ratings, compiled by chief football news reporter Simon Stone at Old Trafford, ran alongside an invitation to readers to rate the players themselves. Mbeumo’s average rating of 5.41 was the highest of the Manchester United players listed.