Tottenham vs Manchester United – Match preview and team news

The Football Faithful

Thu, Dec 19, 2024, 4:35 a.m.·4 min read

Tottenham vs Manchester United – Match preview and team news

There is a mouth-watering Carabao Cup quarter-final clash in North London tonight as Tottenham play Manchester United.

Spurs got back to winning ways at the weekend as they put five past a despondent Southampton side. Ange Postecoglou will have Yves Bissouma back at his disposal following suspension but Rodrigo Bentancur still has two games left of his ban.

Mikey Moore has returned to training but Destiny Udogie isn’t expected to start after he was forced off against Southampton.

Manchester United left it late with two goals in the dying embers to win the Manchester Derby. Ruben Amorim has a decision to make on Marcus Rashford after the forward revealed that he is ready for a new challenge.

Rashford’s comments came after he and Alejandro Garnacho were dropped from the squad to face Manchester City. Mason Mount is ruled out after he picked up a knock at the weekend and Noussair Mazraoui is a doubt.

Tottenham vs Manchester United – Match preview and team news

Form

Tottenham: DLLDW

A five-star display at Southampton at the weekend was very much needed for Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham.

James Maddison netted inside 40 seconds and by half-time the Lilywhites were already 5-0 up. It was Spurs’ first victory since beating Manchester City 4-0 and ended a five-game winless streak.

MATCHDAY 👊
🆚 Manchester United
🏟️ @SpursStadium
🏆 @Carabao_Cup
⏰ 8pm GMT pic.twitter.com/ehsFGufeRF
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 19, 2024

So far in the Carabao Cup, Postecoglou’s side left it late to beat Coventry City before dispatching Manchester City at home in the fourth round.

Spurs’ trophy drought is well-documented and the club haven’t won silverware since lifting this competition in 2008. The Carabao Cup offers a realistic avenue to breaking that duck and progression into the semi-finals will increase expectation in North London.

Manchester United: WLLWW

Ruben Amorim will be hoping his side’s Manchester derby win serves as the catalyst for improvement.

The Red Devils were 1-0 down in the 88th minute but against the odds managed to collect all three points courtesy of heroics from Amad Diallo. The Ivorian won a penalty – which Bruno Fernandes dispatched – before showing immense skill to beat Ederson to a loose ball and find the back of the net two minutes later.

🧠 “Let’s focus on the game.”
Ruben on the noise around his recent squad selections ⬇️#MUFC || #CarabaoCup
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 18, 2024

That triumph made it consecutive away victories after they also beat Viktoria Plzen late on in the Europa League. So far, United have scored 12 goals in two games in this competition. They put seven past League One outfit Barnsley before comprehensively beating Leicester City 5-2, both at Old Trafford.

Last Meeting: Manchester United 0-3 Tottenham, Premier League, 29th September 2024

A rampant performance from Spurs saw them sweep aside Manchester United in the last encounter between the teams back in September.

The visitors flew out of the traps and opened the scoring in the third minute. Micky van de Ven stormed forward using his extraordinary pace to carry the ball 50 yards. The Dutchman got to the byline before drilling a ball into the path of Brennan Johnson to tap into an empty net.

United grew into the contest but the decisive moment of the match came just before half-time as they were reduced to 10 men. Bruno Fernandes caught James Maddison with a high challenge and after consulting VAR, Chris Kavanagh sent the United skipper off.

Tottenham started the second half in almost identical fashion as they scored within 100 seconds of the restart. Johnson was the provider this time as he found Dejan Kulusevski, who poked an effort past Andre Onana. Ange Postecoglou’s side wrapped up the three points with Dominic Solanke using his poacher’s instincts to record Spurs’ third.

Erik ten Hag has since been sacked as Manchester United manager, but both sides have struggled domestically. Only one point separates the side in the Premier League.

Predicted Lineups

Tottenham: Forster; Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Spence; Bissouma, Sarr, Maddison; Kulusevski, Solanke, Son

Manchester United: Onana; Dalot, Yoro, Maguire, Martinez, Malacia; Casemiro, Mainoo; Amad, Fernandes, Hojlund.

Who is the referee?

John Brooks will be the match official. He will be assisted by Simon Bennett and Dan Robathan while Gavin Ward will be the fourth official. VAR will not be in operation.