Defending champions Manchester United secured their first victory of the new season with a 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Badly needing a victory to kick start their season, Manchester United once again went through a frustrating time in front of goal before new signing Nani secured the victory with a shot that deflected off Tevez and into the goal in the 68th minute.

While there were talks of Saha being fit for the match, Alex Ferguson decided to go with an unchanged team that lost to Manchester City on August 19. And they were nearly went behind against Spurs in the opening minute of the game.

A link up pass between Dimitar Berbatov and Steed Malbranque set up Robbie Keane near the edge of the area and the Irish striker's curling shot looped above van der Sar and smashed against the crossbar. Spurs dominated the possession in the early parts of the game as United struggled to find feet in the match.

The hosts nearly went behind through a defensive howler by Rio Ferdinand as the English international allowed Berbatov to get to the ball from behind and was denied only by a saving tackle by Nemanja Vidic. United started to get their rhythm back in the later part of the half and laid siege on the Tottenham goal.

Michael Carrick came very close to scoring a goal against his former club but saw his deflected shot go just wide of the post. Scholes and Nani had great chances to score, but saw their shots go wide of the target as United spent another frustrating time in front of goal, severely lacking the final pass or shot to hit the target.

Tottenham's best chance of the match fell to Ricardo Rocha when he headed Bale's free kick wide of the target from just six yards out. Spurs began to press forward for the lead with Berbatov coming close on two occasions, once when he managed to tap the ball past van der Sar only for Ferdinand to clear off the line while his second shot deflected wide off Brown.

Tottenham players appealed for penalty suggesting that the ball had hit Brown's hand, but referee Howard Webb did not agree. Minutes later United took the lead through Nani. Carlos Tevez saw his shot cleared of the line by Jenas, but the ball fell straight to Nani and the Portuguese winger drove in a stinging shot that took a deflection off Tevez and into the net.

Spurs came very close to getting the equalizer when Berbatov skillfully trapped the ball and turned over to shoot at the goal in one move but saw his shot curl just wide of the post. Manager Martin Jol threw everything forward, bringing on Adel Taarabt and Jermain Defoe, but United held on to claim their first victory of the season.