Football News: Premier League Previews 27 August 2018 Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur

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Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur

Arguably the biggest game of MD3 in the Premier League is the one we wait the longest for. Manchester United against Tottenham Hotspur is a fixture fitting for the Monday night limelight, and here's hoping it lives up to the billing.
Spurs have a rotten record at Old Trafford in the Premier League. Just two wins there in 26 visits, losing each of the last four without even scoring a goal.
Indeed, Pochettino has never won away at Man United in the league as boss at Southampton nor Spurs. Having said that, the side playing at home has won each of the last seven Premier League games between the Red Devils and Spurs (four Man Utd wins at Old Trafford, three Spurs wins at White Hart Lane/Wembley in this time).
In fact, across all London clubs visiting Old Trafford, none have won there in the Premier League since January 2014 (Spurs winning 2-1 under Tim Sherwood), meaning the Red Devils are unbeaten in their last 22 home league games against teams from London. An incredible record.
However, Jose Mourinho has struggled against Spurs of late, winning only two of his last six league games against them (he had won six of the previous eight before this).
Man United have only lost one of their last 12 home league games, and Spurs have only lost one of their last 11 away from home - ironically both sides' defeats in those respective games came to West Brom, who were relegated!
So form isn't a major issue for either side, despite the Red Devils' shock defeat to Brighton last week, which they will look to bounce back from having not lost consecutive league matches since May 2017.
Key players:
David de Gea - The first time I have picked a goalkeeper as my key player, de Gea will have to be on form to keep the likes of Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli at bay here. He has struggled so far this season - indeed he has the league's poorest save percentage in 2018-19 so far having had the best last season, so if he doesn't pick that up, United will have a tough time of it against an in-form Spurs side.
Christian Eriksen - Incredibly, the Dane is the only Spurs player to have scored more than once in the Premier League against Manchester United. He will be pivotal in unlocking the hosts' defence, and he scored after just 11 seconds against them in the reverse fixture last season. He also scored in Tottenham's last win at Old Trafford, so he will be key for them again here.

Written by Reid the Red August 27 2018 12:16:27