Manchester United put a huge dent in Tottenham Hotspur's hopes of finishing in the Premier League's top four with a comfortable 3-0 win at Old Trafford this afternoon.

Spurs struggled all game long to break down the home side and one of the more dangerous moments they had was in the early stages when United defender Phil Jones side-footed a strong back-pass towards goal that David de Gea had to poke away by sliding in.

United soon had control of the game when they opened the scoring in the ninth minute. Michael Carrick fed Marouane Fellaini and the Belgian drilled low across goal into the corner with his left foot.

Ten minutes later the lead was doubled and this time Carrick was the scorer with a well-directed header into the far corner after Nacer Chadli had only been able to direct Fellaini's header into his path.

It was soon three in the 34th minute when Wayne Rooney picked up Nabil Bentaleb's errant pass and drove past Spurs' defence before finishing low past Hugo Lloris for his eighth goal in nine Premier League starts against Tottenham.

After a video surfaced of him being punched in his kitchen by fellow footballer Phil Bardsley, Rooney light-heartedly celebrated by falling to the ground as if he had been floored.

The second half was a stroll for United, with Ander Herrera striking the side-netting the closest they came as Spurs continued to offer very little.

Their one and only shot on target came in the 89th minute when Harry Kane's low effort from a narrow angle was just about kept out by De Gea.

Kane's failure to find the net means that his goalscoring run away from home in the league comes to an end at six games. Spurs also see their five-game unbeaten run against United come to an end.

Three points mean that fourth-placed United have more points at home than anyone else this season. They are five points clear of fifth-placed Liverpool, who face Swansea City tomorrow, while Spurs drop six points behind the top four.