Manchester United were pegged back by two second-half goals from Tottenham as Ryan Mason earned a vital draw on his second debut as interim manager.
While Spurs avoided the 61-second nightmare that befell them at Newcastle on the weekend, this start was not much more inspiring and Jadon Sancho made them pay in just the seventh minute.
Marcus Rashford rode Oliver Skipp’s challenge to tee up the winger, who found it too easy against Pedro Porro and Cristian Romero before slamming home a powerful effort across Fraser Forster.
It was almost two soon after when Sancho had a goalbound shot blocked by Romero before Ivan Perisic turned the rebound away on the line.
Tottenham did find some confidence, principally threatening through Richarlison but the Brazilian crossed when he should have shot inside the box on 28 minutes.
De Gea denied a pair of Perisic attempts amid Rashford testing Forster, and the Red Devils forward made it 2-0 moments after his goalkeeper parried a powerful drive from Perisic.
Within seconds, Bruno Fernandes had picked Rashford’s run out with a visionary long ball that he gallopped onto, accepting Dier’s free pass to run onto his left foot before burying his 29th goal of the season past the goalkeeper.
It was a suckerpunch for Spurs on the verge of half time but Ryan Mason’s side came out with some intent after the break, Clement Lenglet sending a header onto the bar in a goalmouth scramble that could easily have led to a foul had VAR got involved.
Tottenham got back into it on 56 minutes through a delightful improvised finish by Pedro Porro following another melee, however United immediately went up the other end and hit the bar through Fernandes.
But the hosts looked more likely to grab the next goal from that moment onwards, Heung-min Son smacking a volley wide from a great position after Harry Kane’s fine work in the build-up before Eric Dier somehow headed wide when unmarked.
There was no mistake from Son when Kane played another perfect pass, this time to the far-post for a close-range finish with just ten minutes left.
With Newcastle romping past Everton in the earlier kick-off, United dropped off the Magpies in fourth place as Spurs returned to fifth place in the Premier League table.
