Manchester United will hope to end January in style when they take on Tottenham Hotspur tonight at Wembley. The Red Devils are yet to concede a goal, let alone drop points this month and will be confident of beating Spurs away from home.
Jose Mourinho’s side have closed the gap on Manchester City after the Sky Blues were beaten by Liverpool, but the difference is still pretty wide – 12 points.
While Jose Mourinho’s side have done well to stay unbeaten since the defeat to Manchester City, frequent draws have made it hard to challenge City. Having said that, the club recently signed Alexis Sanchez in a swap deal and the Chilean’s addition will improve the potency of United’s attack.
Sanchez’s addition will give Mourinho a good headache to have considering the options he has up his sleeve now. Here’s how Manchester United could line up against Tottenham…
Defence
David De Gea is perhaps the first name of the teamsheet. The Spaniard could have a busy game against Spurs as they’ll be pretty proactive playing at home. We’re expecting a four-man backline comprising of Ashley Young, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Antonio Valencia.
Young and Valencia have had a good January and have combined their attacking and defensive actions pretty well. Son and Lamela have been in good form, so the duo will have to be wary.
Smalling and Jones will have the low-key task of keeping Harry Kane under the wraps.
Midfield
Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba are expected to play in front of the defence. Pogba has missed quite a few games against the bigger teams owing to either an injury or a suspension, so his presence could allow United to push Spurs rather than just playing a reactive approach that we’ve seen from Mourinho in the bigger games.
Jesse Lingard has been in stunning form, so it’s likely he’ll play in the number 10 role.
Attack
Alexis Sanchez started the last game against Yeovil on the left wing but Anthony Martial is expected to start on the left against Spurs.
Mourinho still doesn’t have an out and out right winger, so perhaps we could see Sanchez in that position. The former Arsenal attacker’s work rate is immense as well, so he could come in hand on the right.
Romelu Lukaku’s scoring record in the bigger games isn’t the best, so he’ll want to improve that when he leads the line tonight.
