The fourth match of the Premier League restarts sees Tottenham Hotspur Jose Mourinho host his most recent former club, for the first time at home in Manchester United. It’s arguably the most compelling match of the first weekend of Project Restart so let’s run through all the team news for both sides, as well as your need to know information.
United come into this match undefeated in their last ten, and having kept a clean sheat in eight, across all competitions.
Manchester United at Tottenham Hotspur FYIs
Kickoff: 8:15pm, Friday June 19, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
Restarted Season Previews: Tottenham United
Odds: Tottenham 13/8 United 6/4 Draw 5/2
Records: Tottenham 11-10-8 United 12-8-9
Form Guide: Tottenham LDLL United WWWD
Starting XI Predictions: Tottenham United
Position in Premier League Table: Tottenham 41 points, 8th United 45 points, 5th
Team News:
Leading scorer Marcus Rashford is now fully fit, after a long layoff due to a double stress fracture in his back. He’s also proven himself to be an effective agent for social change, given the big news yesterday.
Paul Pogba has only seen limited action this season, and hasn’t featured since Boxing Day, due to chronic foot injuries. However, he’s 100% fit now. The conventional wisdom seems to believe that he’ll begin this match on the bench though, and not in the first XI.
United head into this clash with a fully fit squad and no one suspended.
Perhaps no team benefited from the long break as much as Tottenham. Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, Steven Bergwijn and Moussa Sissoko are all back to fitness. However Japhet Tanganga has been ruled out due to injury, while Giovani Lo Celso and Davinson Sanchez face late fitness tests.
Meanwhile Dele Alli is suspended for this one, due to an insensitive and offensive social media post, which was rather tone deaf to the coronavirus crisis.
Prediction: United 2, Tottenham 1
United are undefeated since Bruno Fernandes made his Red Devils debut on Feb. 1 (their last defeat of any sort was actually to Burnley way back in mid-January) and he leads the team in most of the major statistical categories now.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
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