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Manchester United & Tottenham Battle On Monday Night Football

Following another lively set of fixtures yesterday as well as what will likely be an entertaining few games today, it’s safe to say that the Premier League is well and truly back. The top flight of English football has always been viewed as one of the premier forms of football entertainment across the world, and there are many good reasons for that. Two of those reasons, ironically enough, are set to square off tomorrow on Monday Night Football, when Manchester United go head to head with Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford.

These two clubs have been instrumental in building the foundation of this division ever since its inception back in 1992, and while they’ve had varying degrees of success when it comes to silverware, it’s safe to say that nobody can deny just how effective they’ve been from a financial standpoint and on the pitch. Now, it’s time for them to lock horns once again, in an encounter that could easily sway one way or another.

The expectations of both sides are pretty similar this season given where they find themselves, as they appear to be on the outside looking in on the title picture. That’s hardly a shocking statement to make given the overwhelming power and strength of both Liverpool and Manchester City, but if you asked both sets of fans where they believe they can end up, they’ll likely tell you that pushing the Reds and City all the way is something that’s definitely a realistic possibility. We don’t necessarily agree with that, but we can appreciate their positive outlook.

Much has been said regarding both managers over the course of the summer transfer window, and that’s pretty warranted in our eyes. Not only do you have Jose Mourinho, who has been pinpointed as one of the most miserable men in world football right now, but you also have Mauricio Pochettino who has been somewhat criticised for his lack of activity when it comes to bringing new players into the club. Both complaints are valid, and both complaints make this game even more interesting.

There’s a certain dynamic that you can feel between the clubs, in the sense that they want to reach that next level but can’t quite break through. Because of that, games like this are often viewed as pretty critical in terms of ‘figuring out where they’re at’ in contrast to the teams around them. Of course, they can’t spend too much time focusing on going after the championship, because there’s also a series of teams like Chelsea and Arsenal who would be happy enough with just breaking into the top four at all.

With this encounter taking place at Old Trafford you would think that United would be the favourites to come away with the win, but given their start to the season, we aren’t so sure about that. They kicked things off with a less than convincing win over Leicester City to ease some of their worries, but they followed that up with a thoroughly disappointing 3-2 loss against Brighton & Hove Albion. The Seagulls put United to the sword and showcased many of their flaws, to the point where some were even calling for Mourinho’s head at this early stage of the campaign.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDQbrtdjn6o

On the other hand, you’ve got Tottenham, who could realistically go top of the table with a convincing win in this one. They edged past Newcastle United in their opener a few weeks back, but in contrast to United, they were able to hold their nerve in game number two when they overcame a tough challenge in the form of newly promoted Fulham. Of course, we’re still in the very early stages, but these kinds of results could be the difference between 4th place and 5th or 1st place and 2nd once May rolls around.

In terms of the head to head standings, these two teams are more than familiar with one another and United fans will be well aware of that – leading Spurs 90-51 in games won with 48 draws between the two. Still, people probably care more about their most recent showdowns, with Tottenham beating United 2-0 in the league back in January before The Red Devils got their own back in a big way by overcoming Spurs 2-1 in their FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

Manchester United will come into this game with their back against the wall in terms of the Premier League table, so they’ll likely be going all out in order to secure the three points. Nemanja Matic, Alexis Sanchez and Antonio Valencia are all very close to a first team return and have actually been training in the last few days, with Mourinho claiming that there are still big decisions to be made one way or another. At the very least, they’ll be hoping that Romelu Lukaku can finally turn up in a major way in such a huge fixture.

Juan Foyth and Victor Wanyama will both be big misses respectively for Spurs, who will probably start to worry if one or two of their major stars go down with an injury in the next few months given their lack of depth in comparison to the teams around them. Heung-min Son is also unavailable courtesy of his time at the Asian Games, which will almost certainly require his full attention given the stakes involved. For the visitors, then, their hopes will land at the feet of Kane, Alli and Eriksen, which isn’t exactly a bad situation to be in.

Manchester United vs Tottenham Betting Prediction

We’ve all seen how these two teams operate in the past and we know what they’re about, but in the last few years, it feels like there really hasn’t been all that much to separate them. Despite not being big rivals it always feels like a big deal when they square off, and as a result, we get a good game out of it more often than not. While we think that will be the case once again tomorrow, we don’t think that’ll translate into a goal fest in Manchester.

That’ll disappoint some, but it feels more like a stalemate could be on the way given the risk associated with a loss here. United know what back to back defeats will cost them dearly, whereas Spurs won’t want to commit themselves too much in an attacking sense as they’ll leave themselves pretty vulnerable to counter attacks. We can picture Lukaku and Kane both missing big chances with a handful of yellow cards being thrown in there too, but in terms of the final result, we can’t see anything other than a 0-0 draw between two of the Premier League’s finest.