EPL Predictions: Man United vs Tottenham

Manchester United will welcome Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Wednesday for a midweek Premier League encounter.

Spurs have recovered well from their North London derby defeat and have won back-to-back matches to stay third on the table.

Man United, on the other hand, have lost some momentum drawing against Newcastle at home.

They will hope to return to winning ways on Wednesday night and cut the gap with the Premier League top three.

Past match performances

Refereeing calls dominated the headlines as Man United played out a goalless draw with Newcastle on Sunday.

Both sides would feel they were deprived of a penalty, and the game could have gone either way.

Joelington hit the post twice in quick succession before Cristiano Ronaldo put the ball on the back of the net, only to see Craig Pawson ruling out the goal because of unlawful intervention in a Newcastle free-kick.

Erik ten Hag’s men were in a three-match winning streak before the Newcastle game and were only trailing fourth-placed Chelsea by a point. After dropping points against the Tyneside outfit, Man United now find themselves three points behind Chelsea.

Tottenham captain Harry Kane rarely missed a penalty. But his unbelievably poor spot-kick against Frankfurt might have given him butterflies in the stomach when he prepared to take the penalty against his national team colleague Jordan Pickford on Saturday.

Pickford had tripped Kane to give away the spot-kick, but he nearly made amends for it as he jumped in the right direction to stop the penalty.

However, there was too much force in the strike to take it past the Everton custodian and give Spurs the lead.

The Tottenham penalty was not free of controversy either, as many felt Harry Kane had gone down too easily and manipulated the referee into pointing towards the spot.

But there was no room for doubt about their second goal as Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s long-range shot took a slight deflection off Alex Iwobi and flew into the Everton net.

It was not an easy task for Tottenham to pick the locks of a resolute Everton defence and their patience finally paid off.

Their persistence have brought them on par with Manchester City in the points tally.

A win against United will see them move three points ahead of City and come within a point of league toppers Arsenal, as none of them have midweek Premier League commitments.

Team News

Harry Maguire and Anthony Martial are nearing their returns from injury. So, both of them might make it into the matchday squad.

Axel Tuanzebe, Brandon Williams and Donny van de Beek are confirmed absentees. Martin Dubravka and Scott McTominay will also return to the fold.

Dubravka was not eligible to play against his parent club Newcastle while McTominay served a one-match suspension for accumulated yellows. Christian Eriksen’s availability is not certain as he missed out the Newcastle game because of illness.

Richarlison will not be available for Spurs after the Brazillian went off injured in the Everton match. He will not return to action in the next few weeks and might also miss the World Cup with Brazil.

Dejan Kulusevski will not be an option for the visitors as well since he is struggling with a hamstring issue. Emerson Royal will be serving the final game of his three-match suspension, so he will be watching from home too.

Who will win

Despite Tottenham’s impressive form, we must keep in mind that they have dropped points in trips to Chelsea and Arsenal.

Manchester United will not be an easy team to break down in front of the raucous Old Trafford crowd.

A draw seems like the likeliest outcome. We are expecting another goalless draw at Old Trafford.