UNITED COMEBACK KINGS OF THE PREMIERSHIP

With Spurs three goals to the good at the interval few believed United would even walk away with a point - despite United's standing as the best attacking side in the country.

But come back Sir Alex Ferguson's men did, to prise arguably one of the most unexpected Premiership victories of all time given the half-time score.

One unlucky gambler reportedly staked an online bet of £10,000 at the interval that Spurs would go on to claim all three points, but had he known what Opta are about to reveal he may have kept his finger firmly away from his mouse button.

Since August 1999 no team in the Premiership has a better record when going behind in a match than Manchester United. The Red Devils have won 10 times after falling behind in the league over this period, and only Leeds United can match them in that respect with, ironically, Tottenham next on nine wins.

That may not come as too much of a surprise to many. But the fact that no team has lost more matches after taking the lead in the Premiership than Tottenham have since the start of the 1999-2000 campaign was probably evident to Whites fans only.

And White Hart Lane has seen more than its fair share of reversals in the last few seasons. In fact of the 40 Premiership matches played at the home of Tottenham since August 1999, a staggering 14 have seen one side take the lead, only for the other to go on and win the match.

That makes White Hart Lane comfortably the Premierships most unpredictable ground in terms of result reversals in the last few campaigns. On average in the given time period, 11.5% of top-flight fixtures have seen one team win after going behind, but at the home of Tottenham this figure increases more than threefold to 35%.

This doesn't take anything away from United's incredible performance on Saturday however, but while supporters of the champions will want to focus on the positive side, there should be a big element of caution in their celebrations.

Including the Charity Shield, Ferguson's men have now fallen behind in seven of the 10 matches they have played this term and while it doesn't seem to have been too detrimental to them in the Premiership, their dream of clinching the European Cup will become increasingly far-fetched if the trend continues. Perhaps the most telling aspect of United's displays thus far can be gleaned from a glance at Fabien Barthez's performances this term.

The Opta Index shows that last season the flamboyant Frenchman had the best saves-to-shots ratio of any regular Premiership 'keeper, with 82% of opposition shots on target saved. Currently though he has the lowest ratio of all first-choice stoppers in 2001-02, having been beaten by half of all attempts on his goal.

While Barthez appears to be playing well below his peak this season, he cannot take all of the blame for this. With Jaap Stam leaving the club, United's defence is going through a tough transitional period and Barthez is by no means enjoying the kind of protection that he was last term.

And this is a problem Sir Alex is going to have to resolve if he is to bow out on a high at the end of the season. While United have shown again that they can clamber out of a seemingly unassailable pit in the domestic game, doing so in Europe is a different matter altogether.

They managed to do so regularly on the way to winning the 1999 European Cup though. With Ferguson adopting a more defensive approach in the Champions League this time round, he may have to rethink his tactics.