Manchester United slumped to their fourth home defeat of the season as Emmanuel Adebayor and Christian Eriksen scored the goals that earned Tottenham a 2-1 victory at Old Trafford.
Danny Welbeck pulled one back for the hosts but despite a succession of penalty appeals and chances for Javier Hernandez, Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic, a combination of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris’ good fortune and some desperate Tottenham defending kept them at bay.
The result maintained Tim Sherwood’s impressive start as Andre Villas-Boas’ replacement, with three wins and a draw over the festive period taking them above their opponents.
Aaron Lennon got on the end of Roberto Soldado’s superb through-ball but fired against David de Gea when he really should have done much better.
Lennon also provided the cross which Soldado was inches away from reaching as he slid in at the far post.
And, of course, there was the goal.
Eriksen deserved a lot of credit for the excellent far-post cross.
Adebayor’s execution was perfect.
Moyes tried to inject some life into his team after the break by throwing on Hernandez and Shinji Kagawa.
In the process, he made a tactical reshuffle that resulted in Tottenham grabbing their second.
The South American simply failed to react to the danger of a bouncing ball, allowed Eriksen to run straight across him and, from six yards, the Dane nodded in.
It seemed like game over but within 60 seconds the deficit had been halved as Welbeck finished brilliantly, dinking the ball over an advancing Lloris after Hernandez had supplied the through-ball.
Rooney and Vidic came close as the hosts reasserted themselves but Tottenham had done enough, and Moyes was left to experience that familiar losing feeling.
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