Confirmed XI: Martial, Greenwood, Fernandes, Rashford start against Spurs; Son fit to start too

Manchester United will be back in Premier League action this afternoon when they entertain Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford in their second home match of the season. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have turned a poor start to the season into a positive with wins in their last three matches following their opening day defeat to Crystal Palace. United will be seeking to get another three points on the board against Jose Mourinho’s Spurs side, who are in good form after playing in the qualification rounds of the UEFA Europa League, although they could be tired after having played four matches in eight days.

It would seem that excitement could well be on the horizon for United supporters with the summer transfer window closing at 2300 hours on Monday 5 October. Saturday saw United being linked with former Paris Saint-Germain forward Edinson Cavani, 18-year-old compatriot Facundo Pellistri and Brazilian left-back Alex Telles with speculation giving the impression that deadline day could be busy for United, if all of the reports are true and correct. Of course, there is no excuse for United not doing their business weeks ago and there will be criticism of this pointed at the club, probably Solskjaer when it should be directed at Ed Woodward and above.

Manchester United:

De Gea;

Wan-Bissaka, Bailly, Maguire, Shaw;

Matic, Pogba;

Greenwood, Fernandes, Rashford;

Martial

Substitutes:

Henderson; Lindelof; Mata, Lingard, Fred, McTominay, Van de Beek

Tottenham Hotspur:

Lloris;

Aurier, Sanchez, Dier, Reguilon;

Sissoko, Højbjerg, NDombele;

Lamela, Kane, Son

Substitutes:

Hart; Doherty, Alderweireld, Davies; Winks, Alli, Moura

United have met Spurs a total of 56 times in the Premier League with United winning 35, drawing 12 and losing just nine times. In all those matches, United have scored 94 goals with Spurs scoring 50. United have been awarded seven penalties against Spurs, scoring all of them with Spurs having won no penalties at all. United have kept 28 clean sheets compared to Spurs’ eight. A total of 96 yellow cards were shown to United players with Spurs getting 91. United have had three players sent off in matches against Spurs with the North London club having one player sent off. Based on the previous matches, this fixture will be the biggest of the season so far.

In this fixture last season, played at Old Trafford, United won 2-1 with Marcus Rashford opening the scoring in the sixth minute of the match. However, Dele Alli levelled the score in the 39th minute if the match. United took the lead again in the 49th minute with Rashford scoring from the penalty spot. It was a good win for United. In the last match between the two clubs which was played in June and was the first match back after the coronavirus lockdown, it ended 1-1 with Steven Bergwijn opening the scoring in the 27th minute and United again scoring from the penalty spot in the 81st minute of the match with Bruno Fernandes scoring it.

Written by John Walker

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I support Manchester United, the greatest English football team to have ever existed. Bruno Fernandes is the latest in a long line of players with great ability to play for the club. I idolised Bryan Robson, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, and Eric Cantona growing up.