Saturday’s results showed where Tottenham Hotspur are short of title rivals

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Manchester United and Manchester City had their substitutes to thank for wins on Saturday.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League trip to title rivals Manchester United was finely poised when the two managers turned to their respective benches in the second half.

Mauricio Pochettino brought on Mousa Dembele and Fernando Llorente after 62 minutes, and Jose Mourinho responded by introducing Jesse Lingard and match-winner Anthony Martial.

Martial’s strike at Old Trafford on Saturday was his fourth Premier League goal as a substitute this season.

It came on a weekend where a Manchester City substitute – Raheem Sterling – scored what ended up being the decisive goal in a 3-2 victory over West Bromwich Albion.

These results show the value of having an impact player in reserve for tight matches, and exposed Tottenham’s lack of depth in this area.

Since the start of the 2016-17 season, Tottenham substitutes have contributed only five goals. Three of those have been scored when Spurs have already held a two-goal lead.

Their last equalising goal from a substitute in the league was from Son Heung-min against Manchester City in January.

The last winning goal was again from Son, against Watford way back in December 2015.

When the South Korean starts, Tottenham have nobody to turn to for impetus when they are in need of a goal.

Pochettino needs to have another trick up his sleeve, and, looking at the attacking resources currently in his squad, can only find that by entering the transfer market in January.