Two fallen titans of the English game butt heads in Sunday's Premier League main event, as Tottenham Hotspur welcome Ruben Amorim's Manchester United to their North London home.
Victory for the Lilywhites would enable them to leapfrog their equally lowly opponents in the bottom half of the Premier League table, although neither can consider themselves to be completely clear of the relegation picture just yet.
Match preview
© Imago
Flash back to just after September's North London derby to Arsenal, where a bullish Ange Postecoglou remarked that he "always" wins trophies in his second year in a job, a bold claim which his managerial history does indeed back up.
However, in the space of just four days earlier this month, the Australian's bid to fulfil that prophecy suffered two devastating blows, as an EFL Cup semi-final collapse at the hands of Liverpool preceded another premature FA Cup exit, this time in the fourth round to Aston Villa.
A first slice of silverware since 2008 could still arrive in the form of the Europa League, though, and before their double dose of knockout heartache, Tottenham finally pulled themselves out of a Premier League rut away to London rivals Brentford.
Sinking the Bees at the Gtech Community Stadium snapped Tottenham's abysmal four-game losing run and seven-game winless sequence in the top flight, where the goal now is to end an equally embarrassing run of form at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Indeed, Postecoglou's meek men have now gone over three months without winning a Premier League home game, drawing two and losing five of their last seven top-flight games in front of their own fans, despite finding the back of the net in all of them.
Only Everton have failed to score away from home against Tottenham in the 2024-25 Premier League season, but Postecoglou is yet to suffer the agony of defeat to Man United in the competition and could now become just the fourth manager - after Unai Emery, Ruud Gullit and Nuno Espirito Santo - to go unbeaten in his first four Premier League matches against the Red Devils.
© Imago
Similarly to Sunday's hosts, Man United also made the net bulge in added time of their FA Cup fourth-round tie, but while Mathys Tel's effort for Tottenham was an uncontroversial consolation, Harry Maguire's for the Red Devils was a highly contentious clincher.
The former Leicester centre-back rose highest to nod home a free kick and propel Amorim's men to an extremely hard-fought 2-1 win, but had VAR been in operation for the fourth-round tie, his goal would have undoubtedly been ruled out for the clear offside offence missed by the linesman.
As Ruud van Nistelrooy raged about 'offside time' as opposed to the age-old 'Fergie time', the overjoyed Man United faithful revelled in their side's sixth victory from their last eight matches across all tournaments, a marked improvement for the former perennial champions as they also chase Europa League glory in the spring.
However, the 20-time English champions were yet again found wanting in their 2-0 top-flight home loss to Crystal Palace on February 2 - their seventh defeat from their last 11 Premier League matches - and Spurs have had their number twice this season already.
Before December's captivating 4-3 EFL Cup quarter-final triumph, Postecoglou's Tottenham were too hot for Erik ten Hag's Man United to handle in a 3-0 Old Trafford trouncing, meaning that they could now do the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League for the very first time.
Team News
© Imago
For the past several weeks, Postecoglou has been managing without a full team or close to a full team of injured troops, but at least two and potentially as many as four could return for the visit of Man United.
The Spurs boss confirmed on Friday that Guglielmo Vicario and Destiny Udogie are on track for their first appearances of 2025, while James Maddison and Brennan Johnson could also be back from calf problems. Wilson Odobert and Timo Werner are in training too, but their comebacks will have to wait.
However, Micky van de Ven (thigh), Cristian Romero (thigh), Dominic Solanke (knee) and Richarlison (calf) remain sidelined, while Radu Dragusin recently underwent successful surgery on his season-ending ACL problem.
Dragusin and Lisandro Martinez are now both on the mend from similar operations; the Man United defender reportedly underwent his earlier this week and will be one of several guaranteed absentees for the visitors in North London.
Luke Shaw (calf), Mason Mount (thigh), Jonny Evans (back), Tom Heaton (unspecified) and Altay Bayindir (unspecified) remain sidelined too, and Amorim also revealed in his pre-game press conference that he had another 'one or two issues', which are now reported to be the trio of Kobbie Mainoo, Manuel Ugarte and Toby Collyer.
While neither Ugarte nor Collyer have been ruled out just yet, Mainoo is apparently set for a couple of weeks on the sidelines, and it has also been claimed that integral attacker Amad Diallo could miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury in another crushing blow.
The cup success over Leicester saw new arrival Patrick Dorgu peculiarly make his debut on the right-hand side before being hooked at the break for Alejandro Garnacho, who will surely be rewarded for that game-changing cameo with a start on Sunday.
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Vicario; Porro, Gray, Danso, Spence; Sarr, Bissouma, Bergvall; Kulusevski, Tel, Son
Manchester United possible starting lineup:
Onana; De Ligt, Maguire, Yoro; Mazraoui, Casemiro, Eriksen, Dalot; Fernandes, Garnacho; Zirkzee
We say: Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Manchester United
Whether for or against Postecoglou's team, goals are almost always a guarantee at both ends of the field at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, as both sides have scored in each of Spurs' last 10 Premier League home matches.
Ten should become 11 on a pleasing afternoon's work for Tottenham, who have a handful of key players coming back and still pack a punch up front, while Man United's unconvincing win over Leicester arguably just papered over the cracks and the visitors are now short on midfield options.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
