Maddison, who was one of five players to return to Ange Postecoglou’s squad after injury, reacted quickest when Andre Onana parried Lucas Bergvall’s shot to put Spurs ahead after 13 minutes.
A depleted United had a succession of chances to equalise, with Guglielmo Vicario – also back in the Spurs team – saving brilliantly from Alejandro Garnacho in the second half.
Constantly carried the ball forward with purpose and took on his man, while making a series of crucial defensive actions, including a brilliant block to deny Rasmus Hojlund.
James Maddison scored the only goal as Tottenham responded to crashing out of both domestic cups last week with a much-needed 1-0 win over Manchester United.
Full of beans on an impressive return to the side, reacting quickest to open the scoring after Onana spilled Bergvall’s shot.
