Sir Alex Ferguson’s men will once again seek to close the gap at the head of the Premier League, with the Reds facing a daunting trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. Manchester City side pulled five points ahead after beating Bolton Wanderers at home on Saturday, ensuring that Ferguson’s men travel south knowing a result is essential at White Hart Lane.
The omens bode well though, with United having won at the Lane seven times in the past decade, and Harry Redknapp’s side reeling from the thumping handed out by Arsenal last weekend. Indeed, with Ferguson welcoming back Wayne Rooney to the fold following a fortnight’s absence, United arrive in north London in fine spirits and reasonable health.
Despite Tottenham’s surge up the Premier League table under Redknapp’s management the side’s fortunes have suffered in recent weeks. Dropped points against Arsenal, Liverpool and City have eliminated Tottenham from the title reckoning, even if qualification for the Champions League is likely. Whether Spurs’ stuttering form is related to manager Redknapp’s trial for tax evasion, and subsequent status as favourite to take over the England job, is a valid question.
Yet, Ferguson still counts the trip to White Hart Lane as United’s “hardest” away game in the remaining dozen Premier League fixtures. With United also travelling to face City at Eastlands on 30 April, the not-so-subtle dig will have been heard in east Manchester.
“Tottenham is always a tremendous highlight for us. It’s always a tremendous game given the history of both clubs,” said Ferguson on Friday.
“It’s a very important game for us. Look at the rest of the season. You can certainly say we’re building up to what could turn out to be a title decider with Manchester City. This is our hardest away game, no doubt. Hopefully we can navigate it.
“Harry Redknapp’s added lot of players and changed things around. Kyle Walker is a tremendous full back. He has great pace going forward and there’s pace on the other side from Gareth Bale, while Rafael van der Vaart has cleverness off the front. As for Luca Modric, everyone realises what a tremendous player he is. So it’s a team full of talent and they’re having a great season.”
However, Ferguson has some tricky selection decisions to navigate, with many of his squad having played internationals during the week. While Rooney is a certain starter, both Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernández appeared for their countries.
“Chicharito’s match in Miami kicked off at 1am our time on Thursday morning so we’ll have to see what he’s like when he gets back,” Ferguson told MUTV.
“He’s got another day [to recover] on Saturday, which is good news but he will still have played four games in 10 days so it’s quite a task for the lad. Danny Welbeck played almost the full game for England too, Nani played 80 minutes for Portugal and Ashley Young had a full game. Jonny Evans played for Northern Ireland so there were quite a few in action on Wednesday but we have the extra day’s recovery as we’re playing on Sunday so that helps us.
However, Ferguson may be able to call on Michael Owen, who is back in full training. The 32-year-old striker has played just four games this season, scoring three goals in the Carling Cup. Injury has once again restricted the former England international’s role at United; a pattern familiar to fans of the striker’s many previous clubs. Sir Alex is having none of it, blaming Owen’s injury record on bad luck.
“Michael has had very good preparation,” added Sir Alex of the striker who has scored just five Premier League goals in three seasons with United.
“He’s done a lot of work with the physios and is ready to join us. It’s good news. I hope he has a bit of luck. He needs that as he’s not had a lot. When he has an injury it always seems to be a long one. Hopefully he’ll be back for the rest of the season, which will help us.”
Meanwhile, Tottenham manager Redknapp should be able to call on key players Gareth Bale, Rafael van der Vaart, Kyle Walker and Ledley King after the quartet picked up injuries in the heavy defeat to Arsenal. It is a huge boost to Spurs, with the side having picked up only eight from a possible 18 points through a difficult run of fixtures. The north London side faces Chelsea next week, before nine winnable games conclude the domestic season.
However, new England captain Scott Parker is missing after being sent off in the 5-2 defeat to Arsenal last weekend.
It should make for an open encounter, with both sides desperate for the win. Indeed, former Spurs midfielder Michael Carrick, who has excelled through the winter, says that United’s last-minute win over Norwich City last weekend has lifted the team ahead of the trip south, with the team also taking confidence from a strong record at the Lane in recent years.
“It is always a good game when we go to Tottenham; it is two teams that play good football and try to play the right way,” admitted Carrick, who played over 60 games for the Londoners.
“Over the years, there have been some classic games. We have a decent record down there. It doesn’t count for much on Sunday but, over the years, we have done quite well. At this time of the season, it starts getting serious. Wins and draws can make a huge difference. You saw last week how we responded and won the game and what it meant to everyone. We will be looking to do the same again.”
With anything less than a win handing the title initiative to City, Carrick understands as well as any the need for professionalism at White Hart Lane. Accusations of complacency, made so loudly after United’s lacklustre performance at Carrow Road last weekend, must not be heard again come Sunday evening.
Yet, the hosts have managed just six draws from the last 25 meetings with United since the Londoners last win in 2001. This is no time to change that record.
Match details
Tottenham Hotspur versus Manchester United, Premier League, White Hart Lane, 4 March 2012, 4pm.
Potential Line-ups
Tottenham (4-4-2): Friedel; Walker, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Modric, Sandro, Bale; van der Vaart; Adebayor. Subs from: Cudicini, Rose, Kaboul, Kranjcar, Nelsen, Livermore, Khumalo, Luongo, Dawkins, Defoe, Saha.
United (4-4-1-1): de Gea; Jones, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra; Nani, Scholes, Carrick, Young; Rooney; Welbeck. Subs from: Amos, Rafael, Fabio, Fryers, Smalling, Giggs, Park, Pogba, Valencia, Hernández, Berbatov, Owen.
Form
Tottenham: WWDWDL
United: LWDWLW
Officials
Referee: Martin Atkinson (Bradford)
Assistants: C Breakspear, M Mullarkey
Fourth Official: A Marriner
youngs been such a great signing I’m not sure if I want him or park to play
Rooney should be full of running… I’d play him ahead of Berbatov… they haven’t always worked together as a pair, but I think this game would suit them
My preferred team would be
De Gea,
Rafael, Rio, Evans, Evra
Valencia, Carrick, Scholes, Young
Rooney, Hernandez
Rafael will do well against Bale, Valencia can help too. I’m not worried about Bale and BAE as long as we have Rafael and Valencia playing, Bale will mostly end up closer to the Tottenham goal most of the game.
On the left I don’t mind either Young or Nani, but Nani hasn’t had been in form lately. That can easily change on Sunday.
Dealing with Adebayor will be a challenge, Evans is on top form but not the most powerful, Rio doesn’t usually like a jostle either. United will most likely lose that battle so unless United boss the midfield to limit Adebayor’s frame time, we’ll concede.
Sir Ryan Giggs? No no no. Sir Paul Scholes say.
Um…Valencia is injured so sorry to burst your bubble. I think SAF might play Park in MF as we could get run over by Lennon and Bale on the wings. I’m a bit worried about Evra as he’s been caught out many times this season.
Playing Berba might not be a bad idea.
Phil Jones in midfield tomorrow. Rafael right back. Young or Park left midfield.
what the fuck? cleverley is injured again? the kid can’t get a break
Is Rooney fit though or are we still pretending he has a sore throat
If Evra returns I hope he’s remembered how to defend, because if he plays like he did before he was rested then we’re gonna get done down the left and it will result in at least one goal
Tottenham are burnt out. Easy 3-0 to United.
I have a funny feeling that Berbatov will start up front with Rooney considering that Welbz + Chicharirito had toupg games in midweek for their countries. Come on U RED DEVILS! UNITED!!!!!
berba is being rested again for some vital game in June ffs
what a waste of a talent by SAF
ideal game for him to show his flair but i doubt he will get a look in until the 85th minute
worried about Adebayor and Saha up front.
Berbatov is too slow. Hernandez up top (if fit) with rooney just behind
No Bale for Spurs
Not that he would have made much difference
Tottenham: Friedel, Walker, King, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Livermore, Sandro, Modric, Adebayor, Saha. Subs: Cudicini, Giovani, Defoe, Dawson, Kranjcar, Rose, Nelsen.
Man Utd: De Gea, Jones, Evans, Ferdinand, Evra, Nani, Carrick, Scholes, Young, Rooney, Welbeck. Subs: Amos, Anderson, Giggs, Park, Hernandez, Fabio Da Silva, Rafael Da Silva.
No Rafael in the first XI. Interesting.
think taggart just doesn’t like not having jones in the side wherever he’s playing, I agree
Have to win. No option.See that Ando has made the bench so when we want to close out the game he can join the Scholes and Carrick.
fatty will be warming up by the burger stand no doubt
Can’t believe they are starting King though. They are so lucky Valencia is injured as he would have them on toast this afternoon for sure.
Anyway guys, all the best. Am already feeling sick.
need to start upbeat
that wet pitch will speed up the ball
i just hope nani is going to have 1 of his more focused games today otherwise we will be cursing the loss of tony v even more – it doesnt take much of a brain to understand the order of look up and cross as opposed to the opposite which he has been doing of late
Come on United.
just seen that the ref is atkinson……hmmmmmmm
116205 is a good stream
Hi Han, here we go again.
hi mad red
nail biting stuff for sure
What a stunning first touch from Nani
Sandro is all over Scholes
they are all over us not just scholes
This is not going to end well today…..
Welbeck up front….. FFS
Need to do better in possesion, but they’re almost going man to man and not letting em play
That Sandro plays the hard man tenacious tackler role, but he’s wearing gloves. Keane would do his nut
that useless fuck jones will cost us the league
That went straight through the wall FFS
wtf is going on? can’t keep the ball at all ffs
come on United, get going, ffs.
Definite handball
Who said Welbeck was world class!! I need to remember that!! Lol
God we’re shite
Good call from the ref, there.
Every single one of our forwards is being an abomination
The defence is doing alright, but the forwards are doing fuck all to help the team out. They can’t even retain the ball let alone pass it. We’re inviting pressure.
true.
rooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooney
Fuck me.. Fair play
Fuck me. Great header but we don’t deserve that.
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rooney yes, just what we needed.
Young has delivered brillant balls in the penalty area this season, esp from set pieces.
Fair dos
The forwards turned up
Tottenham have a goal in them, and they’re all over us like rabid cunts because they got dicked by Arsenal, but they can’t defend for shit
Scholes is not getting a kick predictably and it is not his fault. We need stronger runner alongside Carrick beacause Spurs are not going to let him get his head up. Jones is not a right-back and being on a yellow means we need him off. Rafa to come on please.
a runner u say? that excludes anderson then – stick ji on
Aye. Carrick doesn’t want the ball. He’s like a cat on hot bricks and gets rid of it straight away, often backwards.
SAF will not be pleased with that 1st half in spite of the goal and he will need to jig things around for sure
can’t see spurs applying any less pressure than they did this half, but that should leave some holes at the back
shame nani is playing like his usual jerk self
anyone got a link, pls – thanks
Actually Ando will do well cos he does run with the ball in that area. Ji will be a massive step down and backwards to be honest.
is this a sopcast channel?
Yeah
More here http://livetv.ru/en/eventinfo/107986_tottenham_manchester_utd/
no width
working nicely – ta, sid.
Bloodzeed HD is working well.
Other than the handball, have they created a chance? Or had a shot?
Scrappy game suits us better at the moment.
it’s amazing – full screen top notch!
yoooooooooooooooooooooooooounnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggggggggggg
The forwards are having a shocker
They can’t have put together more than 3 passes this half
yes but the pressure is getting to us and we will flap it. asso-akkota, mondric, sandro working really hard. scholes is fucked.
yes young.
HA!!!!!!!!!!
Fuckin hell…
Suck on that Arry!
Fucking knew if I posted that I would jinx it
Get the cunt in
but we are smarter – well taken by Ashley, really well done. that is pure experience and excellent away game tactics.
spuds still have a goal in them though, I’m sure. respect to them for all their effort
Smash & grab this
Some United pressure at last
Expect Tottenam to score then
yooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggg
x2
Stunning finish
Unbelievable
Fuck me…
As soon as he turned… I knew he was going to bury that.
3-0 young again sweet.
brilliant. i just don’t get why people think Young is shit – or sub-standard, that was just like Henry. when he gets consistency, he can be lethal.
The great free kick to set up the corner
That excellent corner to set up the goal
The goal x 2
= MOTM
i think that is the final kick in the balls. after what arse did to them.
let’s just keep a clean sheet. rio has been massive at the back today.
I can’t relax
If they get one, they’ll press
good goal that
class finish from young.
Here we go…
Rubbish!
Fuckin Rubbish!
Great result.
Class win
Crazy game
de gea having a good game again
Needed a result, and got it.
Fantastic result. Bring it on City.
If anyone ever doubted or still boasted that Scholes can do it at the big away grounds today was it. Did not get a kick and we never got going. Again, not his fault. The manager thinking he can do it is a big problem.
He’s always struggled when he’s pressed like that. Most players struggle. He didn’t fuck anything up though. And we won.
and so you’d have fatso would you in the middle? even carrick had a poor game by his recent standards cal but trust in you to single out scholes
Ferdinand was class
Maybe he’s not finished
They didn’t create a lot despite all of their possession
very happy, winning at tottenham is not easy this season.
I guess you didn’t notice that Spurs dominated position but did fuck all with the ball, whereas we’d already scored twice when Scholes was taken off. I’m not saying we don’t deserve a top quality midfielder who’s younger and fitter, but if you have to choose between the quality of Scholes and Carrick or the huff and puff of Sandro and Livermore, then you must choose quality every time.
What the fuck is Redknapp thinking having Modric on the left instead of in the middle? Their lack of quality in central midfield was their downfall. Reminds me of Scholes being stuck out on the left for England — doesn’t bode well for England then if he takes over.
surprised ken dodd didn’t start with defoe or at least bring him on as a sub earlier
he definitely made an impact when he came on
spurs fans sore at their disallowed goal ffs in the 1st half, calling for dodd to fuck off to england now
What is wrong with you lot? We did not get a kick because we lacked the energy or fleet of feet that a younger person or even Giggs would have provided and you are all acting like I have insulted someone’s dad!! Even three seasons ago, Scholes and Carrick never do it for us at the big away grounds. Easy.
Han, Ando would have done a bit of what Giggs started doing when he came on cos that is what his game is about. The way you want to jump in defence of a player who – irrespective of what he has done lately – is frankly, over the hill is hilarious. Spurs chose a team to make sure he does not look up. They would not do that successfully on Giggs and even Anderson because these two have the ability to get away from the first man. Bman, Spurs were kept out by our defence who played extremely well.
I am so happy we won. In all honesty I do not care how well we played as long as we won.
Well I’d like to point out that their only goal came from Giggs misplacing a pass after he replaced Scholes. I’m not saying Scholes and Carrick were ideal, but their precision is invaluable. Ando is a shite passer — he would have been a terrible liability in that match. I think we’ll have to get rid of Ando, there’s just no room at the level we want to compete at for someone that casual with possession.
if fatso is our future, we are going nowhere
its a sad but true fact that he has 1 good game followed by a half a dozen poor ones and whilst i admit he played well with cleverley at the start of the season, he is not good enough to clean the ginger ninja’s adidas boots, let alone try and play alongside him
he has had enough opportunities and is just not capable of showing his form consistently
As much as I enjoy bashing Spurs, I thought the 3-1 result flattered us and they deserved at least a draw. Maybe if they’d had Bale fit, they’d have taken a draw if not won the game.
The midfield we had nearly cost us the match. They created little, if anything, for Welbeck and Rooney who both had quiet games. They also offered little defensive protection. No wonder we were under the cosh for 60 mins. Young at least scored a couple of cracking goals but Nani was anonymous today. I suppose Spurs deserve credit for pressing us.
I’m delighted we won but hopefully we can play better right up until the end of the season.
and if we had vidic, tony v and cleverley fit….we would have raped them by an even bigger score
Sorry, but thats football we had depth and character today. Maybe if Bale would have been fit they would have done something different, but he wasn’t fit and that’s football. If we had been injury free all season maybe we would have been 10-12 points clear by now?!
Our midfield and defence won the game today, all of them got behind the ball when we lost possession, stayed tight to their forwards, didn’t let them turn and when needed always got to the ball first hence they didn’t score until a terrible pass from Giggs. We seemed to always win first and second ball in our third and found feet in our half only losing possession in unthreatening positions like the middle or final third.
Scholes did just enough, Carrick played well and the back four dealt with a huge amount of pressure. GREAT RESULT!
evans is playing out of his skin
I’m just mentioning this because nobody else seems to have noticed the fact he’s been excellent for a good few months now
Yes he is, been superb. Great to see someone prove people wrong.
I thought the back 4 and Carrick played very well today. Ferdinand or Evans should have been man of the match. Young’s goal’s were very good but a huge amount of solid defensive work allowed his goals to be decisive.
I expected a pressing dominate response form Spurs after last week but they lacked cutting edge. On the plus side we took our chances very well. A great run of results from us, no more top six to play until City and given the run in I think we will win the league irrespective of the City game. We may even win the league at the council house. City would have wanted to be 6-8 points clear given our recent run of fixtures. The teams they have to face are going to be problematic. I think Arsenal, Chelsea and Stoke will beat them. I’m smelling 20!
Aye, looks like he has a future at United after all
Rio was class too. I don’t think he is finished just yet
Great win even though we were pathetic and totally overrun in the first half. We took our chances and Spurs didn’t and that is why we won the game (similar to the Arsenal-Pool game). Once the second goal went in SPurs gave up and it was over.
Rio and Evans were strong at the back and DDG made some great saves in the first half to keep us in it. But tbh, we got killed in the middle of the park for 60+ minutes and our central MF just can’t cope with teams who press us like that. Carrick was awful in the first half and gave the ball away a lot (hmmmm remember Barca) and Scholesy couldn’t hack it today. A bit of class from AY and Rooney today was the difference.
Like I said earlier, this was always going to be an easy win for United. I did not even watch the game, I was that confident. SAF is creating magic and there is more to come in his old age. Soon we will be at full strength so City fans better beware.
An easy win? You really didn’t watch the game did you?
Herbs is a top red.
“I did not even watch the game, I was that confident.”
What the fuck is the point in being a football fan… if you don’t even watch the games?