Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur: Preview – Prediction, team news, line-ups | OneFootball

Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur will put their Premier League top-four hopes on the line in Saturday’s mouth-watering encounter at Old Trafford.

Under-fire interim boss Ralf Rangncik has had a week to rally his troops and prepare them for Spurs’ visit following an embarrassing 4-1 defeat to Manchester City in last weekend’s derby.

Unlike their hosts, Antonio Conte’s men will take the field in high spirits after putting five unanswered goals past relegation-threatened Everton on Monday.

Match Preview

Manchester United

Having won just once in their last four Premier League outings (D2, L1), Man United have surrendered the coveted fourth place to in-form Arsenal, who also have three games in hand.

Back at Old Trafford, where they have alternated between victories and draws across their last four Premier League matches, the Red Devils are looking to win three consecutive league games against Spurs for the first time since a run of four between 2009 and 2010.

United will have another motive to win after falling to a humiliating 6-1 defeat in this exact fixture last season as they hope to avoid losing three successive top-flight H2Hs at home for the first time this century.

Much will depend on how they start the game, considering that Rangnick’s men have lost four out of five home league matches when conceding first this season (W1).

Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham bounced back from an underwhelming 1-0 defeat away to Burnley a fortnight ago with a brace of multi-goal margin victories over Leeds United and Everton.

Spurs netted a whopping nine goals across those triumphs. They will entertain the prospect of scoring 4+ goals in three Premier League outings in a row for the first time since 2004.

But Conte’s men have struggled with inconsistent performances on the road. While Spurs won three of their last five away league games after scoring 3+ goals, they lost the other two without finding the net.

Tottenham could overtake Man United by winning at Old Trafford, where they have won twice in their last three Premier League visits (L1), as many victories as they had in their previous 26 top-flight fixtures here.

Team News

In addition to Mason Greenwood, whose playing career at Man United hangs by a thread, Luke Shaw will be unavailable after testing positive for COVID-19.

Raphael Varane is back after his bout of coronavirus, while Scott McTominay remains an injury doubt.

Tottenham left-back Ryan Sessegnon picked up a muscular problem at Everton and he will join the likes of Oliver Skipp and Japhet Tanganga on the sidelines.

Manchester United Potential Starting XI:

(4-2-3-1): David de Gea; Diogo Dalot, Raphael Varane, Harry Maguire, Alex Telles; Paul Pogba, Fred; Jadon Sancho, Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford; Cristiano Ronaldo.

Tottenham Hotspur Potential Starting XI:

(3-4-3): Hugo Lloris; Cristian Romero, Eric Dier, Ben Davies; Matt Doherty, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Rodrigo Bentancur, Sergio Reguilon; Dejan Kulusevski, Harry Kane, Heung-min Son.

Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur Prediction

Saturday’s showdown at the Theatre of Dreams could be a make or break for both sides, as we back Spurs to take advantage of Man United’s recent wobble to strengthen their top-four bid.

Harry Kane and Heung-min Son have rediscovered their chemistry under Conte, which could spell disaster for Rangnick’s hopes of avoiding a premature farewell.

Manchester United 1-3 Tottenham Hotspur.