Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said the experience of Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani was key to Manchester United’s 3-0 win at Tottenham on Saturday as they bounced back from a humiliating 5-0 thrashing by Liverpool six days ago.  After a week of intense speculation over his future, Solskjaer got all his major calls right as Ronaldo and Cavani, at a combined age of 70, both scored after being paired up front together for the first time.

‘Boys were brilliant’

A switch to a back three, aided by the return of Raphael Varane from injury, also helped Solskjaer’s men register just a second clean sheet in 22 games. “We’ve built this performance on hard work, discipline and keeping the ball away from our goal,” said Solskjaer. “We worked on this week. The boys were brilliant, they took it on board.” The signings of Ronaldo, Varane and Jadon Sancho were expected to turn United into title challengers this season. Instead, they are eight points adrift of EPL leaders Chelsea after 10 games.