Premier League: Another Big Night at Old Trafford

Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur 

Manchester United host Spurs on Wednesday night in an eye-catching Premier League clash which gives both teams a chance to display their top-four credentials.

There are few more atmospheric places to be than Old Trafford under the floodlights and a packed stadium will see two teams fighting hard to break out of the shadows of their rivals.

It’s a match-up between third and fifth in the table. Tottenham can go second and close the gap on leaders Arsenal if they avoid defeat, while a win for Manchester United could draw them level with fourth-placed Chelsea if other results go their way.      

The latest Premier League 2022 betting odds rank Spurs as fourth favourites, priced at 26.00 to win the title with the Red Devils sixth at odds of 101.00. It’s a position neither team wants to be in, trailing the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City, and a win for either would be a major boost.

Talking Points 

How will Ten Hag’s answer his selection questions?

A home game against Newcastle United is not the free gift it used to be and when the newly loaded Magpies rocked up at Old Trafford on Sunday, they did so breathing down their hosts’ necks, in sixth place. And Eddie Howe’s team successfully stifled their hosts and returned to the North East with a point after a goalless draw.

The result and performance threw up some selection dilemmas for the Manchester boss, not least who should lead the line. Ten Hag started with Cristiano Ronaldo but replaced him with Marcus Rashford late in the game and, while the England man looked lively, he missed two golden opportunities which Ronaldo would surely have taken.

With three goals from his first four appearances Antony is already Manchester United’s joint top scorer alongside Rashford, and he will surely start against Tottenham, but the Red Devils’ other wide man, Jadon Sancho, was ineffective and he could make way for Anthony Martial.

Christian Eriksen missed the Newcastle game through injury and without him Manchester United looked bereft of ideas. If the Dane has recovered, then he should slot in to replace either Scott McTominay or Fred. 

On the plus side, United picked up their fifth clean sheet of the campaign and centre-back Lisandro Martinez put in another superb performance, so I don’t see a way back into the side  for the accident-prone Harry Maguire.       

Conte’s style is working so far

Spurs head coach Antonio Conte is a born winner and he’s picked up league titles in both the Premier League and Serie A and, with ten games gone so far this season, it’s so far so good for Tottenham. Everton set up to frustrate Tottenham on Saturday and were hard to break down but, as Harry Kane scored his ninth goal in ten games and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg slammed in a late second Conte and his team celebrated wildly on the bench. 

The Italian leader is known to favour a back three and a counter-attacking style and that plays perfectly to the strengths of his current set of players. Kane and Son make up the most lethal partnership in the league when they play on the break. And Kane can also sit deep and play a direct ball out to the wings, where Ivan Perisic and Dejan Kulusevski are both capable of beating defenders and delivering an accurate cross, with three assists each so far this season.  

Tottenham’s Premier League 2022 results have been good enough to keep the team alongside Manchester City and while some fans would like to see a more possession-based game, Conte will, with good reason, stick to his guns. He does have one change to make though as Richarlison limped off during the win over Everton and that might give an opening for 21-year-old Bryan Gil.   

History

Manchester United have bossed this fixture for much of the Premier League era with 43 victories from the 64 encounters with Spurs over the past three decades. The Whites have managed ten wins and 11 draws, and despite their struggles throughout their 2021/22 campaign, the Red Devils did the double over the Londoners with a 3-0 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and a 3-2 victory at Old Trafford in March.    

In terms of recent form the two clubs have identical records over the past six games with four wins a draw and a defeat each, and both are unbeaten in the last four.       

Betting Tip 

Manchester United are favourites to take the three points on Wednesday at a SBOTOP price of 2.36 but, with Spurs at 2.68 and the draw at 3.30 it is set up to be a fascinating clash.

I expect Conte to have noted how easily Newcastle held off the Red Devils and he will set up to hit them on the counter, though a reappearance of former Spurs favourite Eriksen would cause the visitors more concern.   

 

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