Premier League: Tottenham score late equaliser against Manchester United

Premier League: Tottenham score late equaliser against Manchester United
Clint Dempsey scored a late equaliser for Tottenham to deny Manchester United victory at White Hart Lane. The Spurs American forward scrambled the ball over the line during stoppage time to leave Sir Alex Ferguson's side only five points ahead of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table. Robin van Persie had headed in his 22nd goal of the season midway through the first half to put United ahead but Spurs chased the equaliser and deserved to get it late on. United had looked on track to restore their seven-point lead at the top of the table for around 92 minutes. The opening 25 minutes of the game didn't provide much of a show but Van Persie took care of that as he headed home on a Tom Cleverley cross for his 10th goal in as many league matches. There wasn't much of a reply from the hosts until half time, the only threat came from Gareth Bale whose deflected shot tested goalkeeper David De Gea. The Spanish goalie pulled off another good save early in the second half as he stopped Dempsey. Then Sir Alex Ferguson sent in Rooney and the England striker went down in the penalty area after apparently being clipped by Steven Caulker but referee Chris Foy waved play on. Spurs continued to press forward but Lennon and Defoe were unable to avoid a last ditch tackle from Ferdinand. The home side finally broke through in stoppage time as De Geal failed to punch clear a cross from Assou-Ekotto and that allowed Lennon to set up Dempsey for the goal. Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas said after the game: "We dominated the whole game, played well and deserved to win. We had 60% possession against United, 15 shots against four and should have won. Champions like United have to go through moments like this but I think we deserved this last-minute goal. We set our targets high, we wanted to win. We understood you are not going to go two or three up but we managed to get at least a point and a deserved point." Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand: "Before the game we would have taken a point. We have a good record here over the years, but Spurs have improved so we would have taken a point, but we are disappointed. We defended well as a team. "When you play against a team with Gareth Bale in it you have to set yourself up right. We didn't do that at Old Trafford - we were not going to make the same mistake again. They are a team who are improving under a new manager, so we leave here not too down." Manchester United's next match is the FA Cup clash with Fulham, played on January 26. Here are the odds for that game from Bet365: Man Utd win - 2/7 Draw - 4/1 Fulham win - 11/1
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