SOCCER / Spurs 1 Manchester Utd 2:  Even if Rio Ferdinand's eight-month ban should stand, it does not follow that the opposition will succeed in deducting points from them.

With this result Alex Ferguson's impressive team step to the top of the table.

Specific strengths are sure to remain present even when Ferdinand is absent. While Arsenal are capable of a mesmerising rhythm and Chelsea can stump up for players of the highest calibre, United possess the know-how and redoubtable calm that is cultivated in men with so many Premiership medals.

The result positioned Tottenham in far too favourable a light. Even after Gus Poyet's goal, the rousing of the crowd from its sedated despondency never inspired the Spurs players to fashion another chance.

As the league table implies, trips to London are much more welcome if the bus rolls up at White Hart Lane rather than The Valley and Fulham's Loftus Road digs, let alone Highbury or Stamford Bridge.

The Spurs caretaker manager David Pleat seemed to have low expectations of this fixture and he was pleased that the attempted comeback had enough prudence to ensure that his team were not mauled on the counter-attack. "We tried to redden Sir Alex's face a little more but we didn't," he remarked, evoking the miniature aspirations of a shrinking club.

Pleat confirmed that Spurs have the means to take action during the transfer window, whether loans or outright signings are involved, but such activity has too often amounted to further, excruciating proof of White Hart Lane's knack for wasting money.

Unfortunately there is no option but to take the risk of being fleeced in the transfer market.

Spurs can hardly go on like this. Unkindly yet inevitably Darren Anderton, who went off with a calf strain on this occasion, has become emblematic of the lack of soundness in the side.

They are too slow in midfield and defence to close down men of United's calibre. The forwards ought ultimately to preserve Spurs in the Premiership but they received no pertinent passes for long stretches of this game.

Although Ferdinand was fielded, it often looked as if Ferguson had found the perfect hideaway for him. Just as long as he did not listen to the chants, the England centre-half could mostly enjoy the seclusion and leisurely pace of life in the middle of United's defence.

Ferdinand was startled only once. In the 62nd minute Frederic Kanoute worked the ball to the left, Paul Konchesky crossed deep and Stephane Dalmat turned it back into the middle. Poyet had run from behind the inattentive Ferdinand and scored via a post, cutting the deficit to 2-1.

United did well not to be dazed by so unexpected a blow. For most of the afternoon, after all, they had appreciated the manner in which so many members of the side rejoiced in their excellent form.

They even took the lead with a delicious touch from a stalwart defender.

Darren Fletcher's 15th-minute corner was flighted over Anderton and John O'Shea got in front of Kanoute to hit a volley with the outside of his right foot that glided into the top corner of the net as Stephen Carr, in his surprise, half-crouched beneath it.

The scorer, however, had little prospect of stealing the show. Roy Keane was a gritty yet polished regulator of the action, Paul Scholes relished the returning fitness that let him flaunt his intelligence and, above all, Ryan Giggs proved that he is to be treasured even if he happens to have been knocking about the Premiership for almost half his life.

He is not always appreciated and the Welshman was occasionally supposed to be superfluous to United and therefore destined for a transfer to, say, Internazionale.

Over the past year or so, however, he has won back the affection of the United fans by allying his familiar high-speed dribbling with more discriminating distribution.

It might have been a teenage Giggs who ran away from three defenders in the 35th minute before hitting a shot that was at too agreeable a height for the goalkeeper Kasey Keller.

Nine minutes earlier he had made a different sort of contribution that did not suit Spurs in the least.

A compelling, triangular build-up involving Keane and Scholes ended with the ideally weighted first-time pass with which Giggs released Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Anthony Gardner had first pushed up in a futile attempt to spring the off-side trap and, as he tried to recover, the defender then found the Dutchman's apparently misdirected shot deflecting off him into the net.

Between United's goals Tim Howard impressed by blocking a Poyet attempt low to his left.

He continues to identify himself as the true successor to Peter Schmeichel, even if one had to maintain concentration to note his intermittent participation in this contest.

The exercise taxed United little more than the 2-0 amble here last season.

This is one of those fixtures with a traditional ring to them that are becoming more and more devalued with each year that passes. That is the Premiership's loss as well as Spurs'.