Michael Carrick’s dream start to life as Manchester United coach continued after his side secured a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League.
Having played for United for 12 years and already served a short stint as interim manager once before, Carrick took over less than a month ago with the club seemingly in yet another crisis after parting ways with Ruben Amorim, the Portuguese manager on whom they had seemingly staked so much of their future.
Despite not bringing in any new players during the January transfer window, Carrick has completely transformed the club’s fortunes, making it four wins from four with the latest victory on Sunday morning AEDT, this time against a Tottenham Hotspur side seemingly in a crisis of its own.
‘It’s not an enjoyment where we’re in a schoolyard. We’re playing with REAL PURPOSE’ 🗣️
Michael Carrick is buzzing with how Manchester United are performing.
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Spurs’ chances of getting anything out of the visit to Old Trafford weren’t helped by their captain Cristian Romero picking up his second red card of the season, this time for a reckless challenge on Casemeiro less than half an hour into the game.
It prompted Tottenham to take a more defensive approach but that backfired when Bryan Mbuemo scored the opener for United ten minutes later.
After the game, under-fire Tottenham boss Thomas Frank was asked if he would consider taking the captaincy away from Romero, who has also been in hot water for publicly criticising the club’s leadership twice so far this season.
“No,” Frank replied. Also, he is sorry for the incident. He apologised to his teammates in the dressing room. He is one of the most important players.”
Bruno Fernandes’ goal in the 81st minute sealed the win for the Red Devils, who now sit just three points behind second-placed Manchester City, although City have a game to come this weekend, against Liverpool on Monday morning AEDT.
If Liverpool win that game then Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League ladder will be nine points, after the Gunners continued their winning ways with a 3-0 win over Sunderland.
Victor Goykeres bagged a second-half double for the Gunners after Martin Zubimendi scored the opener late in the first half.
After a slow start to life leading the line for Arsenal, Goykeres seems to have turned a corner, and he’s now scored more goals in 2026 than any other Premier League player across all competitions.
Viktor Gyokeres came off the bench and scored a double for Arsenal and the Swede says it just shows the strength of Arsenal’s squad depth 💪
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Meanwhile Chelsea stayed in touch with the top four after easing to a 3-1 win over last-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The win came courtesy of a first-half hat-trick from Cole Palmer, with two of the goals penalties in which the 23-year-old sent Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa the wrong way.
The later kick-off saw a five-goal thriller played out between Newcastle and Brentford, with the Magpies on the wrong end of a 3-2 ledger.
Outtara Dango was the hero for Brentford, scoring the winner in the 85th minute of a see-sawing contest.
Newcastle were booed off by their home fans after the full-time whistle as the pressure increases on coach Eddie Howe, with his side dropping down to 12th on the EPL ladder after third consecutive loss in the league.
Their cause wasn’t helped by the Video Assistant Referee, who awarded a contentious penalty against Newcastle veteran Jacob Murphy for a handball despite his arms looking to be close to his body.
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Sunday morning’s Premier League results:
Manchester United 2 – 1 Tottenham Hotspur
Arsenal 3 – 0 Sunderland
Bournemouth 1 – 1 Aston Villa
Burnley 0 – 2 West Ham
Fulham 1 – 2 Everton
Wolves 1 – 3 Chelsea
Newcastle 2 – 3 Brentford