United take on Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon in what looks like a potentially crucial encounter in both teams’ pursuit of those top four places. When you look at United’s away fixtures to come, plus a home match against city, it looks like the home form will be critical for our top 4 chances, starting with tomorrow’s clash.
Spurs’ Last 5 (Premier League unless stated):
QPR 1-2 TOTTENHAM
TOTTENHAM 3-2 Swansea
Chelsea 2-0 TOTTENHAM (League Cup Final)
Fiorentina 2-0 TOTTENHAM (Europa League)
TOTTENHAM 2-2 West Ham
Spurs have appeared to look a little laboured after their Capital One Cup exploits, scraping past Swansea and QPR in their last two with degrees of fortune, much like the majority of United’s season.
United vs Tottenham- Last 3:
Tottenham 0-0 United
United 1-2 Tottenham: Welbeck; Adebayor, Eriksen.
Tottenham 2-2 United: Walker, Sandro; Rooney (2)
Danger Men:
Harry Kane-
The academy product has come out of nowhere this season, everything he has touched has seemingly turned into goals. Kane has plundered 24 goals in all competitions and that output has resulted in unrelenting cries for him to earn a deserved England call up. His finishing has been unerring this campaign, he leads the line well in never giving the defenders an inch or comfort on the ball. He will have to be stopped to ensure a positive result.
Christian Eriksen-
Eriksen was one of the players who initially struggled to adapt to Pochettino’s demands, reluctant to buy into the pressing game. The hard yards have paid off lately for Eriksen, notching on more than one occasion in the dying embers to turn draws into wins and he is the main creator for Spurs. He delivers from set-pieces and provides the bullets for Kane. A class act who is now delivering more goals- he has notched 11 goals as Spurs’ second top scorer.
Team News-
Angel di Maria’s actions against Arsenal means he misses Sunday’s game, Jonny Evans serves the second of a six game ban. Van Gaal stated Marcos Rojo is a doubt with a knock in training while Robin Van Persie remains injured.
There are no reported injury concerns for the visitors. Danny Rose is pushing to replace Ben Davies back in the eleven, otherwise the Spurs side is very settled at the moment.
Probable Teams-
United- De Gea; Rafael, Smalling, Rojo, Shaw; Blind, Carrick, Fellaini; Young, Januzaj, Rooney.
Spurs- Lloris; Walker, Dier, Vertonghen, Rose; Mason, Bentaleb, Townsend, Eriksen, Chadli; Kane.
Referee- Mark Clattenburg
