Manchester United face Tottenham Hotspur on the road in today’s late Premier League kick-off.
The Red Devils started the top-flight campaign with a 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday night, but the performance was far from convincing.
A late headed goal from Raphael Varane sealed the points for United, but they were fortunate that Wolves were poor with their finishing throughout the game.
Goalkeeper Andre Onana could have conceded a penalty in the dying seconds, but VAR ruled the decision in his favour. United need a big improvement today.
Ahead of the game, manager Erik ten Hag has confirmed that Lisandro Martinez is available for selection. He picked up a minor ankle injury against Wolves this week.
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Predicted Line-up:
Andre Onana was lively between the sticks for United on debut, keeping a clean sheet. He was lucky with the late refereeing decision, and will be aiming for another shut-out.
In front of him, it should be the same backline. Aaron Wan-Bissaka has made a huge improvement in the offensive of his game and recently provided the assist for Varane’s goal.
He is expected to start at right-back ahead of Diogo Dalot. Luke Shaw is an automatic starter at left-back. The same can be said for Raphael Varane and Martinez, who are the first-choice central defenders.
Casemiro had a tough outing against Wolves where he lost possession on 17 occasions and won just three out of 15 duels. However, he was not offered much help from his teammates.
Mason Mount, who started in the number eight role, was often higher up the field and did not provide the defensive support. Hopefully, we will see more responsibility from the new signing.
Mount should continue in his position. In attack, Antony was one of the club’s best performers on Monday night, but he was also guilty of losing cheap possession on the counter-attack.
The Brazilian needs to improve his ball control, but he is expected to start on the right wing.
Bruno Fernandes was not at his best against Wolves where he was dispossessed 20 times. However, the Portuguese has often come up with a strong response, and we could see that today.
The club captain likes to face Spurs with three goals and two assists in six outings. He is set to start in his customary attacking midfield spot. In our view, Marcus Rashford should feature on the left wing.
Rashford has lacked the cutting edge to his game play as the main striker. He is better off from the left flank which is his strongest position. We may see Jadon Sancho playing up front.
Alejandro Garnacho was ineffective in the curtain-raiser earlier this week. Ten Hag could replace him with Sancho, who showed promise from the false nine position during pre-season.
How Man Utd could line up against Spurs
Stats from Transfermarkt.com & Sofascore.com
