Tottenham Hotspur -v- Manchester United
Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
Saturday 19 August 2023, KO 17:30 BST
Manchester United face Tottenham Hotspur in London on Saturday evening in the Premier League – the first away match of the season. United beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 at Old Trafford on Monday evening and will be seeking to earn their first points on the road.
United were not all that convincing in their victory over Wolves on Monday night but Raphael Varane opened the scoring this season with a header from an Aaron Wan-Bissaka cross into the box. There was some controversy though with a late penalty decision to be made.
New goalkeeper Andre Onana was deemed to have fouled a Wolves player in the box but nothing was given by the officials, leading to Wolves losing their opening Premier League match of the season which caused the ABU media to drone on about it all week.
United will need to find some good early form to get the better of Spurs in their own stadium. It is important that United win their opening two matches, which will put them in good form ahead of the important fixtures coming up, including the start of the UEFA Champions League next month.
United – Form, Goals Scored & Assists
Wolves 1-0 W, Athletic Club 1-1 D, Lens 3-1 W, Borussia Dortmund 3-2 L, Real Madrid 2-0 L, Wrexham 3-1 L
Goals: 1 – Raphael Varane
Assists: 1 – Aaron Wan-Bissaka
Spurs – Form, Goals Scored & Assists
Brentford 2-2 D, Barcelona 4-2 L, Shakhtar Donetsk 5-1 W, Lion City Sailors 5-1 W, West Ham United 3-2 L, Leeds United 4-1 W
Goals: 1 – Christian Romero, Emerson Royal
Assists: 2 – James Maddison
Previous Meetings & Connections
United and Spurs have met 62 times in the Premier League. United have won 39 times, drawing 13 times with Spurs winning 10 times. United have scored 108 goals, winning eight penalties; scoring all of them. Spurs have scored 61 goals; winning two penalties, scoring both of them.
United have kept 29 clean sheets with Spurs keeping eight. United players have been shown 11 yellow cards and four red cards with Spurs players shown 97 yellow cards and one red card. Last season United drew 2-2 with Spurs in this fixture in London.
Jadon Sancho opened the scoring, assisted by Marcus Rashford before Rashford scored the second goal, assisted by Bruno Fernandes. Pedro Porro and Son Heung-Min scored for Spurs. At Old Trafford, United won 2-0 with Fred, assisted by Sancho and Fernandes scoring.
Jack Hall, Jimmy Brown, Garth Crooks, Alan Brazil, Terry Gibson, Chris McGrath, Fraizer Campbell, Chris Jones, Zeki Fryers, Teddy Sheringham, Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Carrick have played for both United and Spurs in the history of the two clubs.
Team News
Tom Heaton (calf), Kobbie Mainoo (ankle), Amad Diallo (knee), Tyrell Malacia (knee) and Rasmus Hojlund (lower back) have all been ruled out of the clash with Spurs on Saturday due to injury. Mainoo and Amad could be out for the long-term.
Lisandro Martinez (ankle) was taken off during half time against Wolves on Monday with a tendon related injury, which is not all that serious. He has a 50% chance of being involved against Spurs on Saturday – however, he could be ruled out closer to the match.
Alfie Whiteman (ankle), Rodrigo Bentancur (knee), Bryan Gil (groin) and Ryan Sessegnon (thigh) have all been ruled out of the clash with United through injury. Whiteman is being assessed, Gil and Sessegnon are out until October and Bentancur should be back next month.
Cristian Romero (head), Tanguy Ndombele (other) and Fraser Forster (lower back) are all doubts for the clash with United. All three have a 25% chance at this moment in time but that could change for the better in the run up to the Saturday evening clash of the two sides.
Predicted United Starting XI – 4-2-3-1
Onana;
Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Martinez, Shaw;
Casemiro, Eriksen;
Sancho, Fernandes, Mount;
Rashford
Predicted Spurs Starting XI – 4-2-3-1
Vicario;
Emerson, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie;
Skipp, Bissouma;
Kulusevski, Maddison, Son;
Richarlison
Match Prediction
United and Spurs will always play a good match. There is always competition and fire involved in the fixtures. That is not because Spurs are a direct rival of United. It is because they desperately want to achieve and bragging about beating United is the pinnacle of their existence.
That is not being disrespectful. Spurs haven on a top flight title since the 1960/61 season and the last trophy they won was the League Cup in the 2007/08 season – the same season that United won a Premier League and UEFA Champions League double.
Spurs have lost Harry Kane, which is a relief as he won’t change a game for Spurs again versus United. However, United could face him again in the Champions League at some point in the future. Spurs are in a position whereby they are no longer contenders for the Premier League.
United just need to deal with the pressure they can present and get the better of them. The midfield will need to be strong otherwise James Maddison will have a field day with United – especially if they allow him the space they did for Wolves on Monday evening.
Tottenham Hotspur 1-3 Manchester United
Written by John Walker
Discover more from MUFCLatest.com
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
