Manchester United take on Spurs this weekend in what is perhaps the fixture of the week.
Spurs have been brilliant of late, and a win against Mourinho’s United would make a huge statement about their title hopes. On the other hand, United are without a win in their last two league matches, and it seems like only a win will do for Jose’s side who are already 5 points off league leaders Man City.
The two sides sit level in the table on points after United’s loss to Huddersfield and Spurs’ victory over Liverpool, so the clash has even more at stake.
United will be without Pogba, Fellaini, Carrick, Ibrahimovic and Rojo for the game, but Eric Bailly could return to action after a three week absence as well as Phil Jones who travelled with the squad to Swansea in midweek.
Manchester United tend to get the better of Tottenham in league games, with Spurs having lost 20 of their 25 Premier League away trips to Old Trafford (W2 D3 L20) – their biggest tally of defeats away at any club in the competition.
Spurs did beat United back in May 2017 though and will be looking to record consecutive league victories against Mourinho’s men. However, Mauricio Pochettino has lost more Premier League matches against Jose Mourinho (4) than he has versus any other manager in the competition.
Manchester United have won their last five Premier League games at Old Trafford, keeping a clean sheet in each win – they last recorded six consecutive home league wins without conceding in March 2010 (run of seven).
Harry Kane has scored 29 goals in 26 Premier League appearances in 2017 so far – just seven off the all- time Premier League record in a calendar year, set by Alan Shearer in 1995 (36 goals). The same sort of praise can’t be said for Romelu Lukaku though, who despite being prolific in front of goal has scored just 15 goals in 58 Premier League appearances against the ‘big six’ clubs – averaging a goal every 289 minutes.
Predicted XI
De Gea
Valencia – Jones – Smalling – Shaw
Matic – Herrera
Lingard – Mkhitaryan – Martial
Lukaku
Predicted score: 1-1