It was a tough, tough day for neutral viewers as they were treated to yet another dull game between two of the big boys.

Tottenham arrived at Manchester United Harry Kane-less, but knew that a win at Old Trafford would move them above Jose Mourinho's side.

Sadly, Mauricio Pochettino's side did not turn up, with United capitalising and earning a priceless 1-0 victory at the Theatre of Dreams.

The Red Devils were far from their best and clearly missed Paul Pogba in the middle of the park, but they maintained their perfect home record for the season.

Anthony Martial came off the bench yet again to be decisive, scoring the winning goal and banishing the demons from his dreadful performance in the 2-1 loss to Huddersfield.

Mourinho called on the French international late in the day to replace Marcus Rashford and proved to be a great decision by the Special One.

But, it seems the Portuguese coach was even more decisive than first thought, because before Martial stepped on the pitch, he offered him some stellar advice.

JOSE'S WORDS OF WISDOM

The match winner told Sky Sports: “It’s important for us because we lost the last game, it’s important for us to win and I’m happy to score.

“The manager told me to find the space and I know Lukaku is good with his head. I found the space and I scored so I’m happy.”

So, there you have it, Mourinho knew exactly what his super-sub had to do.

Throughout the game, the likes of Serge Aurier, Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld were leaving a lot of space behind them.

It took a while to exploit it and Martial was the man to do so, with Lukaku's assist the perfect example of why he was £75m well spent this summer.

They have now closed the gap on their noisy neighbours Manchester City, with a huge game against Chelsea coming next weekend.