Key Points
- Entertaining match to enjoy over your roast dinner
- Ange can leave the North with something
- Pressure rests more so on home side
Tottenham travel to face Manchester United on Sunday afternoon as both sides continue their PL campaigns after midweek Europa League action. Both teams will look to move up the table and closer to the European positions after inconsistent starts to the campaign.
Spurs and United sit 10th and 11th in the standings respectively, with 7 points so far after 2 wins, a draw and 2 defeats from their opening fixtures. For Erik ten Hag and United, this season is following a similar pattern to the last couple of seasons with inconsistent performances and results proving to stop any kind of momentum in its tracks.
Meanwhile, Ange Postecoglu’s side are yet to win away from home in the PL this term and have only kept 1 clean sheet from their 5 games so far, yet have managed to score in 4 of their 5 matches.
Finishing top 6 simply not enough
Both managers will be fully aware that their current position in the middle of the table is not good enough for the size and transfer budgets of the clubs, as both hold aspirations of finishing in the Champions League spots this time around. The Europa League would ultimately be seen as another failed season unless it came with some silverware.
Spurs’ have spent £65m acquiring Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth and the striker will be looking to add more goals after opening his account in Tottenham colours against Brentford last weekend.
As for United, they spent £36.5m on Dutch forward Joshua Zirkzee who looks set to lead the line again for The Red Devils. Additionally, they forked-out £43m on defender Matthijs de Ligt, so neither side has been shy at flashing the cash, meaning owners and fans will undoubtedly expect more from their teams.
Theatre of nightmares on the cards
After labouring to a 1-0 win against Fulham and succumbing to a heavy 3-0 defeat to Liverpool, United’s home form has been fragile for a few seasons now with ten Hag’s side losing 6 times in front of their own fans last campaign. These sides played out a 2-2 draw last season at Old Trafford and a similar result and scoreline wouldn’t be a huge surprise in my opinion, even if Tottenham could fancy themselves to gain all 3 points.
Spurs were 4th in the rankings during the 2023/2024 season for xG and are currently 2nd after 5 games this season. They sit only behind Manchester City for this statistic so they will know they can create plenty of chances on Sunday. It’s just a case of whether they can take them or not.
With Postecoglu’s side totalling 35 shots in their two away games this term, I expect this trend to continue and Spurs’ free-flowing attacking football to be served up at Old Trafford.
More resilience required
Spurs will know if they can convert the chances created they would have most likely won both of their away games instead of picking up the solitary one away point at Leicester on the opening weekend. If they can capitalise on the opportunities they can produce and be more difficult to score against then they should be avoiding defeat in this clash and at worst leave Manchester with at least a point.
4 of Tottenham’s 5 matches this season have had over 1.5 goals occur and during the 2023/2024 season Postecoglu’s team had a staggering 37 out of 38 games (97%) produce this outcome.
With the wide range of markets available for this one, and given Spurs’ record of 27 out of 38 games last season where both sides found the back of the net, the ‘both teams to score’ bet looks likely to pay out. However, at a best price of 2/5 with
WilliamHill
there isn’t any real value in backing this selection.
The handicap market is another area of intrigue but at the best price is 13/20 with
StarSports
for Tottenham +1 European Handicap (same as betting them to avoid defeat). Again, much like the both teams to score bet, I just don’t think the odds are enticing enough to tip that up as a selection.
Spurs +1 & Over 1.5 goals atr 20/23 with the BoyleSports bet builder
Instead, I’ve settled on backing the bet builder of Tottenham +1 and over 1.5 goals in the match which is best priced at 20/23 with
BoyleSports.
For the reasons previously mentioned, I believe the stats from both the 2023/2024 season where 97% of Tottenham matches produced over 1.5 goals will be a familiar trend this season, and I don’t see that changing against The Red Devils.
The amount of chances created by Tottenham in their last outing against Brentford will be hard for United to cope with. The Red Devils are still playing with back 4 pairings and are introducing new combinations in midfield too, with Ugarte’s arrival and Casemiro’s struggles.
Pressure sits more so on United in this game as the home team and I’m not convinced that will work well for them.
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Manchester United vs Tottenham Best Bet
- Market:
Handicap & Total Goals Over/Under via Bet Builder
- Selection:
Tottenham +1 & over 1.5 goals
- Odds:
20/23
- Stake:
1pt
- Bookie:
BoyleSports
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