http://www.goal.com/en-in/match/manchester-united-v-tottenham-hotspur/9d22mogpvlki1xszy95d6jjaiTottenham Hotspur substitutes: Vorm, Trippier, Rose, Sanchez, Dembele, N’Koudou, Llorente.
Tottenham Hotspur XI (3-4-2-1): Lloris; Alderweireld, Dier, Vertonghen; Aurier, Sissoko, Winks, Davies; Alli, Eriksen; Son.
Manchester United substitutes: Romero, Darmian, Blind, McTominay, Lingard, Mata, Martial.
Manchester United XI (3-4-1-2): De Gea; Bailly, Smalling, Jones; Valencia, Herrera, Matic, Young; Mkhitaryan; Lukaku, Rashford.
There’s just under 15 minutes left to go until kick-off, so let’s have a look at how the two teams will be lining up this afternoon…
Recent meetings between these two sides have been intense and exciting affairs, with both teams enjoying two victories each from the previous four games. Tottenham impressed in a 2-1 win the last time they met back in May but are without a victory at Old Trafford since January 2014, with United winning the last three meetings here. In fact, Spurs haven’t even managed to score a goal in this part of Manchester since then.
They may be having to go into battle without their star striker but Tottenham still boast enough attacking talent to cause United some real problems. Heung-Min Son impressed against West Ham on Wednesday and is set to start up front again this afternoon, and aerial threat Fernando Llorente should feature at some point after being named on the substitutes’ bench.
Last weekend’s excellent 4-1 win at home to Liverpool means that Tottenham start the weekend equal on points with their opponents today, but they’ll have to pick themselves up and refocus after the midweek cup defeat against West Ham United. A disappointing loss coupled with the injury suffered by Harry Kane, who will miss out today, means it’s certainly been a difficult week for Mauricio Pochettino’s men.
United’s poor run of form comes at a time when Romelu Lukaku has started to struggle in front of goal. The Belgian started life at Old Trafford in fine form, resulting in him finding the back of the net 10 times in nine games, but he’s now gone 297 minutes without a goal across all competitions. He’ll be desperately aiming to hit back today, and, with City quickly pulling away, it would be the perfect time for him to do so.
Everything had been going so well for a revitalised and thoroughly impressive United side, but last weekend they were handed a shock defeat by Huddersfield Town that sent them crashing back down to earth. The 2-1 loss at the John Smith’s Stadium has left them five points behind league leaders Manchester City, and another defeat today would see them drop down to third place without a win in three league outings.
Good afternoon and welcome to our live text commentary of today’s Premier League game between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford.