Five things we learned from Tottenham’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester United

Tottenham Hotspur failed to end their poor league run against Man United, making it just two wins from their last 16 Premier League outings.

Let us take a look at five things we learned from Man United 2-0 Tottenham:

Tottenham are a couple of West Ham wins away from a relegation scrap

Spurs’ winless run in the Premier League so far in 2026 is beginning to compound as they are now just a few points away from the relegation spots.

Two wins in the last 16 games is far from top-four form; rather, it screams relegation scrap, and now that is slowly becoming a reality for Tottenham.

At the moment, Spurs are 14th with nine points the difference between them and 18th-placed West Ham United.

The Hammers could, however, cut that lead to six should they secure a win over Burnley this weekend. With Spurs also having a tough couple of games on the horizon, it is becoming very likely that this could be a full-on relegation scrap with 13 games to go.

Cristian Romero lets the side down, will he ever learn?

Today’s defeat to United will definitely sting for many Tottenham fans. This is not one of those defeats where it is the manager to blame, as Spurs actually looked very competitive for most of this encounter.

However, it all changed after Cristian Romero’s sending-off following a reckless challenge on Casemiro, which ultimately changed the game.

Spurs had to play 60 minutes of that encounter with ten men, and, given the form United are in, it was always going to be a tough ask for the Lilywhites.

Romero definitely let his teammates down, and neither will this be the first time he has done such a thing. The defender is now set to miss the next four games for Spurs following this latest sending-off.

Tottenham were actually playing pretty well before the red

While Thomas Frank most times gets so much stick for his pragmatic approach when setting up his side, today’s fixture was actually not one of those.

Spurs were set up to not only nullify United’s threats but were also set up to strike blows of their own, and during the early parts of the encounter, we saw that.

There was an intent to attack and to get as many players into the box, with Romero, van de Ven and Gallagher all given the licence to push up when possible.

But the red card changed the dynamics of the game, with Tottenham forced to defend for most of the fixture after going down to ten men. It does feel like the game could have ended differently had Romero not been sent off.

Souza makes his Premier League debut after Destiny Udogie injury

Tottenham Hotspur continue to deal with an injury crisis despite three players returning to the starting XI today.

Unfortunately, the injury woes continued as Destiny Udogie was forced off after hurting himself, withdrawn at about the 55th minute.

With Djed Spence, Pedro Porro and Ben Davies unavailable, this led to Souza being handed his Premier League debut following his winter move from Santos.

The young full-back did put in a solid display against the likes of Amad, Fernandes and Mbeumo. He showed his pace and his ball-carrying trait in this encounter. Indeed, it is not bad for a league debut.

Radu Dragusin is about to become a very important player

With Cristian Romero out for the next four matches, and Kevin Danso’s return date unknown, Radu Dragusin is about to become very important for Tottenham.

That centre-back depth is now very thin, and that means the Romanian is now pretty much nailed for the next four games at least, unless Danso returns in time.

The centre-back is only just returning from his ACL injury and is yet to play a full ninety minutes, but the easing-in period is looking like it is well behind him, with Newcastle United up next in three days.

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