Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United
League leaders Manchester United find themselves in another high profile match this Sunday as they travel to White Hart Lane to face Tottenham, the only side to come out of Old Trafford with a victory this season. Tottenham ended a 26 match winless streak against United with that 3-2 victory in September and will be hoping to return to winning ways here after their draw with QPR surrendered third spot to Chelsea. Both sides come into this match on long unbeaten runs.
Tottenham’s disappointing scoreless draw away to QPR moved them down to fourth, 15 points off United. Currently sitting last in the Premier League, QPR shouldn’t have been much of a problem for the North London club, but it wasn’t to be for Andre Villas-Boas’ side, who blew several good goal-scoring opportunities throughout the match. Tottenham lost midfield maestro Sandro midway through the first half but his replacement Scott Parker, who recently returned from a long lay-off, will do the Spurs midfield some good. Emmanuel Adebayor has left for the Africa Cup of Nations, which allows American international Clint Dempsey to show what he can do alongside or behind Jermain Defoe. Spurs’ defence has proved strong at home, conceding just 11 goals in their 11 matches at The Lane. That reads for good form heading into their match against the best attacking team in the league. Tottenham pose a deadly trio of attacking threat through their midfield with Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon on either flank, and Belgian Mousa Dembele through the centre.
United’s ninth victory in their last 10 league games has given Ferguson’s team a seven-point lead over Manchester City. They are coming off an important 2-1 win against old rivals Liverpool at Old Trafford. United’s victory was inspired, once again, by Dutch forward Robin van Persie, who put the home side ahead with his 17th league goal of the season on nineteen minutes. Van Persie’s second-half free-kick also led to Vidic’s goal, with the Serbian defender’s head diverting Patrice Evra’s header beyond the grasp of goalkeeper Pepe Reina. The Red Devils’ victory against Liverpool appeared to come at a heavy price with Ashley Young leaving the stadium on crutches and Nemanja Vidic limping off with a knee injury to add to Sir Alex Ferguson’s injury concerns. However, Wayne Rooney is set to return to the starting line-up in this match after missing the last three weeks with injury.
This should be an end to end match. United have scored more goals away from home, 26, than Tottenham have scored at White Hart Lane, 17. The Red Devils have won all but three of their 11 away matches and are tipped to add another three points to their tally at the top of the table.
