Spurs vs Manchester United: TOT vs MUN – Manchester United travel to London for their first away fixture of this year’s Premier League against Tottenham Hotspur. Following a shaky pre-season campaign, the Red Devils started their season with a controversial 1-0 win in their first Premier League game against Wolves. Man United are bolstering their squad with a few important new inclusions in the team this summer. With days still left for the transfer window to close, more players could still arrive at Old Trafford.
Since Erik Ten Hag arrived at Old Trafford at the beginning of last season, Manchester United’s improvements were visible. They ended their 6-year-long trophy drought by winning the EFL Cup. They kept an impeccable home game record where they lost only 1 game last season. Even though Man United had a shaky away game record, they still managed to end the season in 3rd position in the league table. Hence, they qualified for this year’s Champions League after a hiatus of one season.
The Red Devils’ pre-season schedule was quite hectic as they played 8 friendlies. Their second team played two of them, while the first team played the rest of the 6 matches. The second team lost against Wrexham, while they drew against Spain’s Athletic Club. Whereas, their first team won 4 friendlies against Leeds United, Lyon, Arsenal, and Lens. They lost 2 games against Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund. In the meantime, they were bolstering their squad with new signings throughout the summer transfer window.
The Red Devils brought in Mason Mount from Chelsea and Andre Onana from Internazionale. They were still trying to bring a forward who could bolster their attack. Marcus Rashford was the key to Man United’s success last season. However, they faced a lot of trouble when the forward got injured. Hence, coach Erik Ten Hag was determined to bring in a good forward to help in the attack line. They finally managed to sign Rasmus Hojlund from Atalanta. However, he is recovering from a back problem that could take a few weeks.
Thus, he has joined the injured players’ list of the quartet – Amad Diallo, Kobbie Mainoo, Tom Heaton, and Tyrell Malacia. Diallo and Malacia are suffering from knee problems, Heaton is recovering from a calf injury, while Mainoo is nursing an ankle injury. Man United took to the field last Sunday without these players. In their opening match of this season’s Premier League, the Red Devils managed to win by a narrow 1-0 margin against Wolves. A Raphael Varane header in the 76th minute was their only salvation.
Man United’s new goalkeeper Onana stopped a wave of unexpected attacks from Wolves. More importantly, Lisandro Martinez sustained a minor ankle injury in the match. However, centre-back Varane downplayed the severity of his teammates’ injury. Hence, he could still play in the Spurs vs Manchester United game. If he doesn’t get the coach’s green light, Harry Maguire, who has decided to stay, or Victor Lindelof could be called up for the match. Coach Ten Hag could also call up former Spurs man Christian Eriksen to feature in the midfield.
Manchester United Predicted XI: Onana; Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Martinez, Shaw; Fernandes, Casemiro, Eriksen; Antony, Rashford, Sancho
