Opposition Preview: Manchester United | OneFootball

At 16:30 on Sunday afternoon, Tottenham Hotspur will host Manchester United for game week 25 of the Premier League season. It is no secret that both sides are having an absolutely dismal league campaign.

Here is what we can expect from our visitors ahead of this showdown

As touched on above, United are having a similarly poor season to Spurs. Back at the end of October, they made the decision to part ways with manager Erik ten Hag, after two and a bit years in the hotseat. After a few games under the interim stewardship of Ruud van Nistelrooy, they moved to bring in highly rated Sporting manager, Ruben Amorim.

Things have not really improved under his time at the club, though it feels harsh to blame him for that, even if he has not been perfect. Whilst United were a typical 4231 team under ten Hag, Amorim has a very specific 343 system, which needs players that fit. It is quite clear that the current crop of players are not suited to that, though he is sticking with the formation.

So, you could say this is the battle of two managers that live and die by their methods - rightly or wrongly. One of the few players that did seem to suit the three at the back system - at least on the ball - was Lisandro Martinez, Cristian Romero's international partner, but he recently suffered an ACL injury, and will not be seen for the foreseeable future.

For the game, United are to be without Amad Diallo and Kobbie Mainoo, with the former being ruled out for the season, and the latter out for a number of weeks. We saw Diallo score and assist in just 35 minutes on the pitch against Spurs when the sides met in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.

During the winter transfer window, United signed one player, Patrick Dorgu - whom had been linked to Spurs beforehand. It was said that Amorim really wanted a dynamic, left footed player to play as the left wing-back in his system. So, naturally, he played him as a right wing-back on his debut against Leicester City in the FA Cup. He played on the right at times for Lecce, but that was still a surprise. We'll have to see where he starts tomorrow.

It was a surprise that they didn't bring in a forward, given that Mainoo, a midfielder, played as a false 9 in their recent defeat to Crystal Palace, a damning indictment of natural strikers Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee, whom were both fit and on the bench. So, we know one of them is going to score tomorrow. They had tried for Mathys Tel, so there is a narrative for tomorrow.

There really can be no excuses here. A similarly poor side, whom, with Spurs returning players, and now injuries of their own, probably have quite a comparable injury record - which can't have been said for many of Spurs' opponents this season. Anything but three points would be a huge failure.