- Spurs vs Man Utd

Match report

Some fine saves from Hugo Lloris and some wasteful finishing meant Manchester United’s attempts to keep in touch with the leaders of the Barclays Premier League were dented in a goalless draw at Tottenham Hotspur.

Spurs were indebted to goalkeeper Lloris in the first half in particular as United had the better of a frenetic match at White Hart Lane. Robin van Persie had chances to beat the Frenchman on at least one occasion as Louis van Gaal's side extended their unbeaten run to nine matches, but had to settle for a second successive draw away from home. A point for United ensured they will head into 2015 in third place, with a trip to Stoke City to come on New Year's Day.

Spurs, who are unbeaten in their last five matches against United, had won their previous four matches in all competitions, but failed to do enough to extend that run despite raising their game in the second half.

Andros Townsend made only his second Barclays Premier League start of the season as Mauricio Pochettino opted for four changes to the Spurs side who won at Leicester City. United, who named an unchanged line-up for a league match for the first time in more than two years, took charge after a frantic start and Radamel Falcao could have done better when Juan Mata played him in, but the Colombia striker got the ball stuck under his feet and his tame effort was comfortably saved by Lloris.

Mata's deflected free-kick struck a post and some great defending from Vlad Chiriches denied van Persie the chance to tuck home the rebound after 21 minutes.

Lloris then got a fingertip to Phil Jones' close-range header, but failed to divert the ball away from goal and Spurs were relieved to see the assistant referee's flag up for offside when Jan Vertonghen was unable to prevent the ball from crossing the line with an acrobatic clearance.

United continued to cause Spurs problems and Lloris rescued the hosts when van Persie showed great technique to control Michael Carrick's ball over the top, but the Netherlands striker took one touch too many and the Frenchman denied him.

The busy Lloris kept out a Wayne Rooney header and Ashley Young's measured right-foot effort before half-time as United dominated, but were unable to edge in front.

Van Gaal made a substitution at the break, with Rafael Da Silva replacing Antonio Valencia, and van Persie had another great chance to put them in front nine minutes into the second half, but volleyed over the crossbar after Mata had picked him out.

A scrappy period of play ensued before Townsend picked up a loose ball and let fly with a vicious strike from long range that was well gathered by David De Gea.

United had further chances to break the deadlock but Mata blazed over the bar from 10 yards out after 67 minutes when Rafael cut the ball back to the Spain midfielder.

De Gea got down well to smother Federico Fazio's left-footed shot following some uncertain United defending 18 minutes from time as the opening goal remained elusive. Spurs finished the match the stronger and De Gea palmed away Christian Eriksen's free-kick then Ryan Mason blazed over the bar after great work from Harry Kane eight minutes from time, but the home side were unable to convert their late pressure into a winner.

Spurs head coach Mauricio Pochettino: "The second half was good and we were better than them but after 90 minutes it's a fair result. We showed that we were solid. The most important thing is the feeling from today.

"It's a good point. We produced a good performance.Our fitness levels are very good. We have a lot of games ahead and the next one [against Chelsea on Thursday] is another tough one."

Man Utd manager Louis van Gaal: “We lost two points. We had the best performance of Manchester United’s season in the first half, we could have scored four or five goals, but we didn’t reward ourselves. In the second half, it was more of a struggle than football. In the first half we played very well, but when you do not score goals then you cannot win.

“We gave three possibilities or chances away but we could have also scored from three possibilities - Juan Mata, van Persie and Falcao could have scored. The first half was a fantastic half of ours, but then you have to finish the attacks and we were not so effective today.”

“I should have been satisfied if we had won today because then we would have had 38 points out of 19 matches and that is two points a match on average, which is very good."