Premier League: Plenty at stake in Man United against Spurs encounter
Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou applauds the fans following the Premier League match at City Ground, Nottingham.
TWO regular contenders at the top of the Premier League face-off in the standout encounter of the weekend, when Manchester United host Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford tomorrow evening, with the only consistency for both sides being their inconsistency.
While both have struggled to maintain a campaign to threaten the top of the league this season, it is Spurs who will be a lot happier with their efforts at this stage. Only six-points off top spot in the Premier League, it can be argued that Spurs should be a lot closer to the summit. And but for a run of five games without a win in November and early December, when seriously incapacitated by injury, they probably would be dicing for the top spot with Liverpool now.
Ange Postecoglou was criticised for not adapting his swashbuckling attacking tactics while struggling to field personnel, but no one can deny that Spurs under his istration are a far more entertaining and accomplished looking side. They are now within one point of neighbours and hated rivals Arsenal in fourth, which few would have predicted at the start of the season. The Gunners may just be going through a bit of a sticky patch in their quest for the title, but Gooners will not take favourably to looking over their shoulders and seeing Spurs waiting to pounce on their position at their very next slip.
United’s season has generally been accepted as a bit of a disaster, especially after the seeming progress and successes of last season, with them floundering around at eight place in the league this season. Embarrassingly dumped out of the Champions League at the group stage and the Carabao Cup at home at the hands of a 3-0 whipping to Newcastle United. The Old Trafford outfit have taken some little satisfaction by righting the ship in their FA Cup win over Wigan during the week. Still, it was only their third win in their last 10 games in all competitions.
United manager Erik ten Hag has found it almost impossible to string a run of wins together in this Jekyll and Hyde type season. A credible and battling draw against Liverpool at Anfield, before Christmas, was followed by an uninspired defeat at the hands of West Ham, which was then followed by an impressive victory over in-form and new title contenders Aston Villa. But the optimism raised from that result was immediately flittered away in an unexpected defeat to lowly Nottingham Forest. So it’s one match good, one match bad, you can never be sure which United will turn up.
In contrast, Spurs go into tomorrow’s game with just one defeat in their last six games. Claiming the most points of any Premier League side over the difficult Christmas period. But once again, it is their injury list that will be of most concern to their hope for points. They are still likely to be without Ben Davis, James Maddison, Cristian Romero, and Alejo Veliz. There is some hope that Giovani Lo Celso, and Manor Solomon might play some part in the game, but the match might just come a bit too soon in their recovery schedule. They are also without talisman striker Heung-Min Son, who is away with South Korea for the Asian Cup.
In better news for the Lilywhites, Timo Werner looks set to start after he completed his loan move from Leipzig. The former Chelsea striker is keen to find his scoring touch again and no better place than in a Spurs side eager and enjoying their attacking expression.
United carry a few injuries into the game as well, with Casemiro and Mason Mount continuing their recovery journey, but Luke Shaw and Lisandro Martinez may make the bench in time for Sunday. This will be Andre Onana’s last game for a while for United as he heads off to the AFCON Cup, which may or may not be good news for United fans depending on how they rate the Cameroonian shot-stopper.
Spurs comfortably beat United 2-0 at home back in August but have not found Old Trafford as happy a hunting ground in general, with the Londoners only claiming four wins away there since 2012. Which is a lot better than their run prior to that point. With Spurs claiming a single win at Old Trafford in the league way back in 1989.
On the surface, there is little to play for in this game. But defeat here would probably kill any hopes Spurs have of getting back into the title race, while another setback for United would see them slip to their 10th defeat of the season in the league alone and heap even more pressure on Ten Hag's embattled position as manager.
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