Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur Match Preview (Premier League)

Tottenham make their way to Old Trafford tomorrow evening where the Manchester United manager, players and supporters will be expecting their customary three points. Most Spurs fans will be resigned to that happening once again. Can this be the year when Tottenham bring their horrendous record against United to an end? Tottenham haven’t won at Old Trafford in the Premier League era and the last win came when Match of the Day presenter, Gary Lineker, was still playing. It was he who scored the only goal of the game in December, 1989.

Tottenham supporters will regale anyone who wants to listen of the injustices they have suffered over the years at Old Trafford through refereeing mistakes – Pedro Mendes ‘goal’ being number one. Other blunders come to mind and Spurs supporters will not take much comfort from the appointment of Chris Foy, not Hoy, perpetrator of last season’s debacle at Stoke,  as referee for the game. In reality, however, Tottenham have only themselves to blame as they have been too accepting of the situation and rolled over too easily – in many instances it’s been a matter of ‘United Score – Game over for Spurs’. Andre Villas-Boas’ team will have to show more backbone that many Tottenham teams have previously shown at Old Trafford if they are to end the losing sequence.

Last Season at Old Trafford

Aug. 2011  Lost 0 – 3

It was Tottenham’s first Premier League game of the season because of the postponement of their opening fixture against Everton due to the ‘Tottenham riots.’   For an hour it was looking quite positive. In the first half Spurs had withstood United’s early dominance and had then started to make an impression on the game. Satisfied at half-time but after that United started to build up a period of sustained pressure which reduced Spurs’ forward forays to almost nothing. Aaron Lennon, however, had one great opportunity to create an opening for Spurs when he got past the full back to the line but as he moved towards goal, with both Gareth Bale and Rafael Van der Vaart waiting for a pass, he froze and did nothing. He lost the ball, at that moment he was like a rabbit transfixed in the headlights of a car, and Spurs’ best chance was gone to the very evident displeasure of Rafael Van der Vaart on the pitch and his manager off it.

Unfortunately, it was following a poor United pass that they scored their goal. Rooney saw his pass cut out by Benoit Assou-Ekotto but his poor clearance gifted the ball to Cleverly and from his cross Wellbeck headed the opening goal.

The goal gave United confidence and they poured forward in search of a second. Tottenham faded and the inevitable happened. It was only after conceding the second goal that Spurs managed to mount a dangerous strike on the United goal. From a cross, challenged by substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko in the air, United’s young goalkeeper flapped at it and the ball fell to Jermain Defoe whose volley crashed against the woodwork. That was the end as far as Spurs were concerned with Rooney scoring a third towards the end.

Manchester United

United started the season with a defeat at Everton and then had a hard-earned win at Old Trafford over Fulham where Tottenham recruit, Mousa Dembele, was outstanding. Since then they have built up a head of steam to win their next five games in all competitions including the match last weekend at Anfield. They have suffered a huge blow with the injury to central defender Vidic but have been compensated with the return of Wayne Rooney and Darren Fletcher who both started in the Capital One Cup win over Newcastle United. Two of United’s starting line-up against Liverpool played in the Under-21 League game between United and Spurs earlier in the month – Goalkeeper Lindegaard and defender Evans along with Fletcher who is now waiting in the wings.

United have benefited from the goals from new signing, Robin Van Persie, who has scored 5, including a hat-trick against Southampton but they are still reliant on the experienced campaigners – Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick and Rooney as the fulcrum of their team. Their last home game was a single goal victory over Galatasaray in the Champions League when Carrick provided the goal. Wigan lost by four goals in the last league match when all the goals came in the second half with Scholes scoring on his 700th appearance for United. Rafael with two goals is their next highest scorer with eight players having scored once.

Wayne Rooney will play – he always returns to play against Tottenham.

Tottenham

Andre Villas-Boas will revert to the team which he has selected in the league so far this year. Brad Friedel will reclaim the goalkeeping position but the major decision he faces is how to set up the left side of the back four. Kyle Walker and William Gallas will play on the right but he has to decide whether Jan Vertonghen should be retained at left back or return to the centre. Much will depend on the fitness of Kyle Naughton and how much confidence the manager has in the player if he is fit to play. If Vertonghen plays at left back, the Coach then creates another problem to resolve and must decide between the youthful Steven Caulker or the experienced Michael Dawson to partner Gallas.  Sandro and Dembele will patrol central midfield behind a three of Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale with possible Clint Dempsey getting selected ahead of Gylfi Sigurdsson as he can provide greater support for Jermain Defoe as he did in the second half against Queen’s Park Rangers. Whatever team is selected they will have to be fully committed and clinical whenever any goal scoring chances arrive.

Can Tottenham win and bring an end to their appalling record at Old Trafford? The answer is ‘Yes’ but will they win? That’s a different matter. Ahead of the game most Tottenham supporters would take a point but if Spurs go looking for a draw that is a sure fire recipe for defeat. Andre Villas-Boas has said he wants Tottenham to take the game to United – it may well be the only way they will get anything from it by trying to cause United problems rather than sitting back and defending as that will just encourage United to come at them even more. In his press conference Villas-Boas said,

"“That is the way I like my teams to play. We obviously know that it is extremely difficult there, but that doesn’t mean that you might not be given a chance when you play that way. It would make us very proud to go there and get a win that would shorten the distance to the top. We can’t run away from our responsibilities. The statistics are there. We hope to break them one day and hopefully it will be on Saturday”"