Tottenham were without 11 players for their cup defeat at Aston Villa but the roles were reversed for this fixture with Ange Postecoglou boosted by the return of Guglielmo Vicario and Maddison, while United lost Manuel Ugarte, Kobbie Mainoo and Amad Diallo to injury over the weekend.
Spurs fans had protested against chairman Daniel Levy and majority owners ENIC earlier in the day, but come full-time it was injury-hit United and boss Ruben Amorim who were left to reflect on where to go next following another league defeat.
Tottenham started the second period strongly, with Tel denied by Onana before another brilliant run by Djed Spence set up another chance for Bayern Munich loanee Tel but he fired wide.
Maddison celebrated with a shush to the camera after midweek criticism from ex-Man United captain Roy Keane and this first home league win for Tottenham since November 3 moved the hosts’ up to 12th in the table.
After Noussair Mazraoui diverted another Son effort behind for a corner, United should have levelled when Mazraoui picked out Zirkzee but he put his header inches past the post in the 72nd minute.