We are in no doubt what the game of the weekend is in the Premier League as Tottenham Hotspur welcome Manchester United to Wembley on Sunday in an eagerly anticipated contest.
Tottenham Hotspur start the weekend sitting third in the Premier League, 2 points off second place Manchester City and 6 points adrift of Liverpool. They must win this game if they want to remain a genuine threat in the title race.
Manchester United have their sights set on the top four. They start the weekend 6 points off fourth place Chelsea and know a win would see them emerge as serious contenders again this season.
Tottenham Hotspur claimed a narrow 1-0 win over Chelsea in the Carabao Cup semi-final on Tuesday night. It rounded off a busy period of fixtures for the club which included an FA Cup tie at Tranmere Rovers and an away match at Cardiff City. Spurs won all three of the games and will glad of the four days’ rest ahead of this one.
Trends show Tottenham Hotspur have won six of their last seven Premier League matches. However, they will be wary of this game having lost 3-1 at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers last time out at Wembley. The good news for Spurs fans is they have lost only four of their last twenty-seven home games in the Premier League.
Defensively they have been good, keeping a clean sheet in each of their last three games and trends show Tottenham Hotspur have scored at least 1 goal in their last eighteen matches in all competitions.
Manchester United will travel to London full of confidence having turned a corner under new manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Since the defeat at Liverpool, which was Jose Mourinho’s last game in charge of the club, Manchester United have won five straight matches, four of which have been in the Premier League.
There have been victories over Cardiff City, Huddersfield Town, Bournemouth and Newcastle United. Trends show the Red Devils have won each of their last five games by at least 2 goals but the argument is they have not played against a team which possesses the quality of Tottenham Hotspur.
Manchester United have won three of their last seven away games in the Premier League, all of which have come against teams currently in the bottom half of the table.
Looking ahead to the team news and Tottenham Hotspur are expected to be without Lucas Moura, Jan Vertonghen, Eric Dier and Victor Wanyama although Vertonghen is back in training. Son Heung-min will play his final game before heading to the Asia Cup.
Manchester United are without the suspended Eric Bailly following his red card against Bournemouth. Chris Smalling will miss out due injury but Paul Pogba and Alexis Sanchez are expected to be fit.
The Red Devils arrive at Wembley enjoying their football but this could be one step too far. Tottenham Hotspur are in excellent form and have the attacking players to dent a Manchester United defence which remains weak. Expect to see Spurs win the game, with both teams scoring.