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Man Utd vs Totham Hotspur: Results, Expected Lineups, Odds
Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur will meet on Sunday, January 14th, with the kickoff scheduled for 17:30 local time (GMT).
Both teams will have plenty of time to rest after their respective FA Cup games, with Tottenham having a couple of extra days off.
Tottenham Hotspur are playing against Burnley on January 5th, whereas Man Utd will meet Wigan on January 8th as part of the same competition.
None of those two teams is likely to cause a lot of trouble to the much stronger competitors, giving both Tottenham and Man Utd more than enough space and time to rest for their big Premier League game.
In the following match preview, I’ll discuss their recent results (overall and against each other) and talk about the potential lineups.
Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur: Head-to-Head
Looking at the last three meetups between the two teams, it’s clear the game could go either way.
Last season, Manchester United snatched a 2:0 victory on their home turf, while Tottenham didn’t really impress in the second game of the season, ending the game in a 2:2 tie.
The first game of the 2023/24 season, however, saw Tottenham victorious after a 2:0 game at their stadium.
So while the overall numbers may be overwhelmingly in Manchester’s favour (40 wins, 11 losses, 12 draws), the more recent ones definitely show a far bigger balance of power.
Manchester United: Standings & Latest Results
Out of the last six games, Manchester United has only won two.
Granted, they were against Chelsea and Aston Villa, which are both strong EPL title contenders.
What’s more, in their game against Aston Villa, Hojlund scored his first goal after 1000+ minutes playing in EPL, which could be huge for his confidence and future results.
That said, Man Utd suffered a big loss against Bournemouth, the team currently taking up place number 10, which was less than impressive.
Subsequent matches saw them losing to Bayern and West Ham as well.
Currently, Manchester United is at position six, with 11 points fewer than the leading Liverpool.
Tottenham Hotspur: Standings & Latest Results
While Tottenham has won three of their last seven games, one of them with a red card, the wins came against fairly weak teams (namely, Nottm Forest and Everton).
They did pull a tie against the favourite for the title, Manchester City.
However, the team most recently lost against Brighton, which is currently positioned three places lower than them.
The general pattern I noticed in the last few games shows Tottenham can get a tie against tougher opponents, but it doesn’t seem to be in a good enough shape to win against them.
Lineup Prediction
While lineups can be hard to predict as you never know who might get injured during the next training session, there are some reasonable predictions to make.
Manchester United Lineup Prediction
The first thing we know is that Van de Beek won’t be on the field, as he was recently sent to Eintracht Frankfurt on a loan.
In general, Manchester United tend to use a 4-3-3 formation.
However, the potential lineup makes it just as probable they’ll go with a more forward 4-4-1-1:
- Andre Onana (goalkeeper)
- Aaron Wan-Bissaka (right back)
- Willy Kambwala (central back)
- Jonny Evans (central back)
- Luke Shaw (left back)
- Scott McTominay (central midfielder)
- Kobbie Mainoo (central midfielder)
- Marcus Rashford (right wing)
- Alejandro Garnacho (left wing)
- Bruno Fernandes (attacking midfielder)
- Rasmus Hojlund (striker)
Tottenham Hotspur Lineup Prediction
It’s a bit harder to come up with hypotheses for Tottenham, as many of their players are currently injured or suspended.
And while the majority should be back for the big game, the question is whether they’ll be ready enough to feature in the starting 11.
This will all influence their formation as well, though they’re likely to go with 4-3-2-1.
Their potential lineup could include:
- Guglielmo Vicario (goalkeeper)
- Pedro Porro (right back)
- Cristian Romero (center back)
- Ben Davies (left back)
- Oliver Skipp (left/central defensive midfielder)
- Yves Bissouma (central midfielder)
- Pape Matar Sarr (defensive midfielder)
- Brennan Johnson (forward)
- Dejan Kulusevski (right wing)
- Heung-Min Son (forward)
- Richarlison (striker)
Romero and Richarlison are currently away for injury, while Bissouma was suspended due to a red card.
In case they don’t make the starting squad, some of the potential replacements could include:
- P. Højbjerg (central/right midfielder)
- E. Dier (defensive central midfielder)
Betting Tips: Who to Bet On?
Two betting markets most bettors will be looking into for this game are 3-way moneyline and totals.
Moneyline
None of the teams have been stable lately. Tottenham did pull off more victories recently, but several of their players have missed games lately, whether due to injuries (Perišić, Solomon, even Romero and Richarlison have complained of injuries lately) or suspension (Bissouma, Udogie).
Manchester has the home turf advantage, too, and Tottenham’s latest victories are over fairly weak teams. If you’re a risk-taker, playing on a draw may make sense.
If not, betting that Manchester could pull through, if only on the home turf advantage, might get some money in your pocket.
Totals
50% of Manchester United’s latest games ended up with 3+ goals.
Meanwhile, Tottenham finished the last six out of seven games with 3+ goals total, while the team itself scored between two and four goals in those.
Overall, it’s hard to believe Man Utd will repeat the 2:0 victory from last season, given the amount of goals Tottenham has been scoring lately, as well as their last two games ending without a Man Utd victory.
Because Tottenham is likely to put up a fight, playing on over 2.5 might be a good idea.
