Manchester United return to the summit of the Premier League, but only on goal difference from Manchester City, after being held to a scoreless draw at Tottenham. United had to play the last 17 minutes with ten men after Rafael was shown a second yellow card giving Spurs every incentive to try a claim a win over the Old Trafford outfit for the first time in 23 meetings.
Tottenham are now unbeaten in their last four home matches in the league against Big Four opposition but still remain eight points behind the leaders.
United will be happy to have claimed a point and kept their unbeaten league record intact in what was a scrappy but always entertaining game.
Chances were at a premium with both defences on top. Wayne Rooney brought a fine save from Heurelho Gomes, whilst for the home side Peter Crouch and Rafael van der Vaart had half chances.
But once Rafael was dismissed United kept it tight and Spurs were unable to breakdown their disciplined rearguard.
Referee: Mike Dean
Venue: White Hart Lane Attendance: 35,828
Tottenham scorers: Man Utd scorers:
TOTTENHAM 01 Gomes 02 Hutton 03 Bale 13 Gallas 20 Dawson 32 Assou-Ekotto 07 Lennon 11 Van der Vaart (yellow card) 12 Palacios (yellow card) (Defoe 78) 14 Modric 15 Crouch
Substitutes 23 Cudicini, 19 Bassong, 22 Corluka, 08 Jenas, 21 Kranjcar, 09 Pavlyuchenko, 18 Defoe
MAN UTD 01 Van der Sar 03 Evra (yellow card) 05 Ferdinand 15 Vidic 21 Rafael (yellow card, red card) 11 Giggs 16 Carrick 17 Nani (Anderson 61) 24 Fletcher (yellow card) 09 Berbatov (Hernandez 78) 10 Rooney (yellow card)
Substitutes 29 Kuszczak, 12 Smalling, 23 Evans, 08 Anderson, 18 Scholes, 07 Owen, 14 Hernandez
