It is easy to see how Manchester United could win their fifth Premiership title in seven seasons. Equally it is not difficult to imagine how the championship could again pass them by.
At the moment United's veneer of invincibility is precisely that. Behind the sort of attacking extravagance which at White Hart Lane on Saturday threatened to reduce the strutting Tottenham cockerel to a feebly clucking capon lies a vulnerability which, at the very least, ought to keep the championship contest alive until next May.
Clearly the dismissal of Gary Neville six minutes before the interval, following a second booking, was part of the reason why, having established a 2-0 lead by the 17th minute, United were held to a 2-2 draw in injury-time. Yet, as pleas of mitigation go, this told only half the story.
Manchester United did not lose two points and the chance to go top on anything other than goal difference simply because they were reduced to 10 men. Their inability to deal with accurate free-kicks by Darren Anderton cost them victory more than anything else.
When a defender is allowed to score with a free header from a set-piece, that might be treated as a momentary lapse. When he does so a second time the fault surely runs a little deeper.
Sol Campbell's two goals, in the 70th minute and the first of the two minutes allowed for stoppages, followed the hard, flat crosses Anderton launched at the heart of the United defence from left and right.
Well-taken though both goals were, there was a time when the combination of Peter Schmeichel's giant shadow and Gary Pallister's power in the air would have minimised the likelihood of Manchester United being punished twice in such a manner in the same game. Now things are a little different and, had Allen Nielsen not headed the game's simplest chance straight to Schmeichel two minutes after Campbell's first goal, Spurs might even have won.
While Schmeichel could not be blamed for either goal he is staying on his line more often at free-kicks and corners and is becoming increasingly nervous when he leaves it to gather high balls. Nor would it be fair to hold the excellent Jaap Stam wholly responsible, but it is an inescapable fact that, when Campbell was saving a point for his team in the air, United had three centre backs on the pitch, Henning Berg having joined Stam and Ronny Johnsen after halftime.
For Manchester United the disappointment of not winning was all the more profound because of the way they started. By now it should have dawned on most people that Alex Ferguson does not field reserves, he simply opts for alternatives made available by the depth and variety of his squad. Thus playing Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer instead of Dwight Yorke, who was unfit, and Andy Cole was never going to make life easier for Tottenham's defenders.
Initially Nicky Butt, preferred in midfield to Paul Scholes, posed the biggest problem of all. With Roy Keane again in superlative form and Sheringham dropping deep, Butt was the crucial link in a series of attacks which bypassed the Tottenham midfield and outflanked their defence.
After 10 minutes, following a Tottenham free-kick and a nervous clearance by Schmeichel, Sheringham, Butt, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham launched a counter-thrust which left White Hart Lane winded.
From Beckham's centre Giggs saw a header blocked by Ian Walker with Solskjaer running in the rebound. Seven minutes later Sheringham's quick pass out to Beckham, followed by another cross, found Solskjaer reaching the ball a fraction ahead of Campbell and increasing United's lead with a crisp first-time shot.
Four previous visits to London this season, including the FA Charity Shield, had brought Manchester United little joy, let alone a win, but now it was hard to see how they could lose. Then Gary Neville was cautioned for a two-footed lunge at Nielsen and 10 minutes later saw both yellow and red for hauling down David Ginola, and thereafter the plot changed.
Tottenham Hotspur: Walker, Carr, Nielsen, Fox (Allen 82), Anderton, Ferdinand, Armstrong, Ginola, Sinton, Campbell, Young. Subs Not Used: Baardsen, Calderwood, Dominguez, Clemence. Booked: Sinton, Ferdinand. Goals: Campbell 70, 90.
Manchester United: Schmeichel, G Neville, Johnsen, Stam, Beckham, Butt, Sheringham (Cole 74), Giggs (Blomqvist 86), P Neville, Keane, Solskjaer (Berg 46). Subs Not Used: Van Der Gouw, Cruyff. Sent Off: G Neville (39). Booked: Butt, Sheringham, G Neville, P Neville, Beckham, Johnsen. Goals: Solskjaer 11, 18.
Referee: U Rennie (Sheffield).
