MANCHESTER United have announced they will have an extra 7,000 season tickets available next season but the main attraction in English football is now elsewhere. Chelsea’s dominance of the Premiership is such they did not even have to play yesterday for their grip on power to increase. Second played third at Old Trafford and cancelled each other out. The problem for United is they looked no likelier to win the championship this season than Martin Jol’s Spurs side.

Mikael Silvestre scored Premiership goal number 999 for his team; Sir Alex Ferguson must feel like dialling that number. Here his players began with fresh purpose and an early, nerve-soothing goal. But by the end of the match old doubts had crept back and, in the way they tried to coast in the second half, old bad habits. Tottenham, after a disappointing beginning, seized their opportunity with gusto. When Jermaine Jenas lined up a free kick 20 yards out — given after another dumb moment from Rio Ferdinand, who had fouled Jermain Defoe. Jenas stepped up and, with Edwin Van Der Sar positioned dubiously, bent a lovely shot over the wall and into the unprotected portion of net behind it. Tottenham deserved their point; home fans began streaming out of the exits, resigned to a third consecutive home League game without a victory.

Silvestre scored the opening goal after seven minutes and it was not a moment for the Paul Robinson video compilation. Ruud van Nistelrooy muscled in front of Mido to propel a powerful header at goal, which bounced in front of Robinson and up towards his gloves at a nice height. Whether the ball travelled a little quicker than he anticipated or took a kick off the turf, only Robinson knows but he spilt it. Silvestre smacked it home and the rather showy save he made from an Alan Smith volley moments later could not erase Robinson’s embarrassment.

United’s goal had come from a free kick, disputed by Tottenham when Michael Dawson was judged to have checked Wayne Rooney, that Paul Scholes delivered perfectly. The midfielder was captain in the absence of Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs, and his children, Aaron and Alicia, were match mascots.

The sight of Uriah Rennie was making Tottenham supporters’ blood run cold. Having piqued them by penalising Dawson, the referee then turned down two penalty claims, the first when Yong-Pyo Lee tumbled under a Phil Bardsley challenge, the second when Mido trapped the ball and turned Silvestre before shooting against Ferdinand’s arm. Replays suggested Rennie made the right decision twice.

One-nil at half-time was the right scoreline. United were superior, but by no great margin. Tottenham’s midfield of Michael Carrick, Edgar Davids and Jermaine Jenas passed smoothly but Spurs couldn’t get their most penetrative players, Jermain Defoe and Aaron Lennon, on the ball.

United created no more clear chances — though a Van Nistelrooy flick-on fell only a foot too far in front of John O’Shea on the goalline — but their football had the greater purpose. Defoe’s dipping shot just before the interval, which brought an expert save from Van Der Sar when it bounced nastily in front of him, promised better things for Spurs and they took the game to United after the break.

Jenas’s equaliser was no shock and Tottenham’s chutzpah was illustrated when Carrick tried to score with a free kick from 40 yards out and hit the bar. Cristiano Ronaldo, on as a late substitute, should have stolen three points but headed wide.

STAR MAN: Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham)

Player ratings. Manchester United: Van Der Sar 6, Bardsley 7 (Rossi 81min, 6), Ferdinand 6, Silvestre 7, O’Shea 6, Fletcher 5 (Ronaldo 75min, 6), Smith 6, Scholes 6, Park 5, Rooney 6, Van Nistelrooy 7

Tottenham: Robinson 5, Stalteri 6, Dawson 7, King 7, Lee 7, Lennon 5 (Keane 65min, 6), Carrick 7, Jenas 7, Davids 7, Defoe 6 (Mendes 84min, 4), Mido 6

Scorers: Manchester United: Silvestre 7

Tottenham: Jenas 72

Referee: U Rennie

Attendance: 67,856

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