A Manchester United team that has kept clean sheets in back-to-back games in the Premier League for the first time this season welcome a Tottenham Hotspur side that has only lost once this season in the PL. The clash between 5th placed United (16 points) and 3rd placed Spurs (23 points) takes place at Old Trafford in what is the feature for this midweek’s Premier League games.
Manchester United have racked up 3 wins against Tottenham since losing 6-1 against them back in 2019 in the league and are going into this one looking to get their fourth consecutive win over Spurs for the first time since the 2009/10 season. Their most recent encounter with each other ended in a 3-2 score line favouring the Red Devils, with a notable and brilliant performance from the one and only Cristiano Ronaldo recording a hattrick against his opposition. This season United started the season slowly but now seem to be finding their feet since their first win of the season came against Liverpool, exception being the heavy defeat against Manchester City. It will be hard for the United defence to keep the in-form Harry Kane at bay and manage a victory in this game, and for Spurs they might find relief in the possible omission of Ronaldo in the starting line up after manager Antonio Conte conceded that they “lost to Ronaldo and not United” in their last clash.
Tottenham have been hampered by injuries to key players such as Kulusevski and Richarlison but have still managed to keep their boots on for the title race early in the season, having lost just 1 of their 10 games so far (3-1 loss to Arsenal). However, England striker Harry Kane has romped up an impressive 9 goals in 10 games in the Premier League this season, trailing only Erling Haaland’s dominant return of 15 goals in 10 games. Both teams have only lost once in their last 5 games in all competitions, Spurs losing against rivals Arsenal and United losing against their rivals Manchester City (6-3). The last time Spurs beat United was in back in October of the 2019/20 season when they were still led by Jose Mourinho, with a sounding 6-1 victory against then Solskjaer led United.
Playmaker Christian Eriksen is a doubt for United’s clash against his former side, and Manchester United club captain Harry Maguire is also a doubt for tonight’s game at North London. Spurs’ last match saw them run out 2-0 winners against Lampard’s Everton, goals from Harry Kane (penalty) and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg helping the side capture the 3 points. United meanwhile were held 0-0 when they hosted Newcastle at Old Trafford. Keeping that in mind it will be a closely contested affair and a draw, or at the very most a win for Spurs cannot thrown out of question.
Liverpool take on West Ham United in another game, looking to build on from momentum gained in their impressive 1-0 win against Manchester City. Mo Salah has scored 4 goals in his last 2 games in all competitions, including the quickest hattrick in UEFA Champions League history against Rangers. If the Egyptian can maintain that same mentality coming into this game then he can be trusted to find the back of the net again against West Ham. Another big six team in action tonight is Chelsea going up against Brentford in looking for their 6th consecutive win under Graham Potter and their 5th clean sheet in 7 games, and you can back them to come out with 3 points at the Gtech Community Stadium.
