LONDON: After all those doubts about his future, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer repaired some of the damage from the 5-0 hammering by Liverpool last week as at Manchester United ran out 3-0 winners at Tottenham Hotspur to move into fifth place in the Premier League on Saturday.

The humiliation at Old Trafford by last weekend had left manager Solskjaer hanging on to his job but the Norwegian’s decision to switch to a back three and start with a veteran strike pairing of Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani paid off.

Ronaldo and Cavani — with a combined age of 70 — both scored before Marcus Rashford netted.

After collecting one point from four games, the win in north London will give Solskjaer some breathing space even though United are still eight points from first place with 17.

“Of course this week has been a difficult one for the players, fans they haven’t been happy,” Solskjaer said. “The experience came through.”

Particularly from the 36-year-old Ronaldo, who got on the end of a high ball from Bruno Fernandes and peeled away from defender Ben Davies before netting from a first-time volley across goal in the 39th minute.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner then turned provider for Cavani to dink the ball over Hugo Lloris.

Rashford came off the bench and produced a curling strike to round off a badly-needed three points and performance for Solskjaer’s men, who registered just a second clean sheet in 22 games.

The win helped Solskjaer deflect the spotlight away from himself and on to Tottenham’s Nuno Espirito Santo, who has now lost half of his 10 league games in charge.

On Sunday, second-half goals from Raphinha and Rodrigo Moreno earned Leeds United a 2-1 win away at Norwich City, keeping the visitors out of the relegation zone and the home side nailed to the bottom of the table after 10 matches

The win lifted Leeds to 17th in the table, three points clear of the bottom three.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2021