Dele Ali, left opened scoring for Tottenham

Three  second-half goals within six minutes helped Tottenham Hotspur maintain their pursuit of Barclays Premier League leaders Leicester City with a 3-0 win over Manchester United.

Leicester had earlier beaten Sunderland 0-2, maintaining their seven point  lead over Spurs.

The result also did London neighbours, Arsenal a favour by keeping one of the Manchester teams at bay from charging for a top four finish.

Kick-off was delayed by half an hour as the visitors’ team bus fell foul of London traffic and the match started slowly, as White Hart Lane endured a first half without a shot on target.

But 0-0 became 3-0 within six scintillating second-half minutes as Dele Alli, Toby Alderweireld and Erik Lamela struck to land blows to Man Utd’s hopes of a top-four finish.

Spurs’ outlook is comparatively more positive after they found an impressive response to Leicester’s earlier win at Sunderland to sit seven points behind the leaders with five matches remaining.

United lie fifth, four points shy of neighbours Manchester City, and contributed little as an attacking force against the dynamic north Londoners.