United will travel to Hottenham Totspur and take on Ange's side for the third time this season and unfortunately for the Red Devils, it has already been two strikes.
Spurs have defeated us on the previous two occasions so hopefully this could be third time's the charm?
Ruben Amorim will certainly be hoping so as he could do with a win considering the dire situation United find themselves in.
However, Ange will be looking for the same as they are in a worse position than us, somehow.
Shit v shitter. You decide which is which.
Predicted Lineup
After nine days between matches, there's no reason for Amorim to have to rotate as the players should be fresh.
Onana keeps his place in goal after Bayindir was injured for last week's win over Leicester.
Ahead of him will be a back three of Yoro, Maguire and De Ligt, the Dutchman making a return to the starting XI.
This means that Mazraoui can go back to RWB and I believe it will be Dalot at LWB, the standard duo for Amorim. No place for Dorgu in this team.
Bruno and Ugarte to continue in midfield with Amad, Mainoo and Hojlund ahead of them.
I do think that we need Garnacho in the XI because he is a player who makes things happen and we are better with him than not but for some reason, I feel like the manager will start him on the bench.
Either striker is an option and after his goal against Leicester, perhaps Amorim will want to keep Zirkzee's confidence going?
However, on the other hand, I believe that the United boss prefers Hojlund's more traditional number 9 play for this system rather than Zirkzee's unorthodox false 9 style.
Approach
Come what may? Anything and everything? All or nothing?
At this point, just don't embarrass us all lads.
We really don't know what to expect from United anymore. We can go to Liverpool and Arsenal and put up performances worthy of United sides of the past but then forget how to football in the next games.
We got away with it against Leicester too as that was another terrible display in which a late and lucky goal by Maguire put us through to the 5th round of the FA Cup.
These type of performances cannot go on any longer. Whilst we don't know what we're going to get, what we cannot do is keeping playing in a slow, energy-less, tempo-less, idea-less and flat manner that suggests a side that look disinterested.
These have caused the inconsistencies throughout the season and even though we may not have the best of players or are used to this 3-4-3 system, we cannot be this bad. If we showed a little bit of a fuck we could be a decent side.
But we don't. We end up starting games off slowly and allowing the opposition to be all over us, get the opener and United having to try and win the game from behind.
This can work against the likes of Leicester and Southampton but against the better sides (even a struggling one like Spurs) and the chances are we will lose. That is in fact, exactly what happened on the previous two occasions we've faced the cock(erels) 😏.
We know that it's been a real struggle for us over the years when it comes to facing any big 6 side away from home although we have improved under Amorim as he has won one and drawn one of his last two which was at City and Liverpool.
But the record at the Spurs Stadium isn't the best as we haven't won there since 21/22 when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Man Utd beat Nuno Espirito Santo's Spurs 3-0.
Yeah, that takes you back, doesn't it?
This will be a difficult game.
Form
Very inconsistent so, very United.
The last five in the league have seen one draw, two wins and two losses. That defeat against Palace meant we went back down to our favorite position of 13th.
We've managed just eight wins all season and have lost more (11) than we've won 😐.
With 29 points from 24 matches, it's almost as if we have a point a game.
After 24 games last season, we had 13 wins and 12 more points than we do this year.
And I thought we were terrible last season 😩.
In the away table, we are 13th. Of course.
We have three wins, four draws and four losses from our 11 matches on the road. One of the positives is that we don't actually concede too many away from Old Trafford. United have let in just 12 which is the same as Arsenal and second-fewest in the league. Only Palace with 11 have let in fewer.
The flip side is that we have scored just 11. Only Everton and Southampton have scored fewer than United away from home.
Goodness gracious 😳.
Spurs
Ange's side are worse than United. They should be relegated for that 🤣.
Tottenham are one spot and 2 points behind United in the table so a win for them would leapfrog us. In their 24 matches, Spurs have eight wins (same as United), three draws but a staggering 13 losses! Only the bottom four have lost more.
Something that they have going for them though, is that they do know how to find the back of the net. Spurs have scored 48 with only City (48), Arsenal (49) and LFC (58) having scored the same or more.
When it comes to their recent form however, the team from the capital have lost four of their last five (which were in a row) but did manage to pick up a much-needed win against Brentford in their last game (2-0).
Spurs are also worse than United when it comes to home form as they are 14th in the home table. We are 12th.
Their 12 matches have seen four wins, two draws and six losses at the Spurs Stadium. But their 27 scored means that only Brentford on 29 have scored more home goals. On the other hand, Spurs do concede a few as 23 all but cancels out their 27 in front of goal.
Ange also has the issue of injuries although he could be welcoming back Brennan Johnson, number 1 Guglielmo Vicario, James Maddison, Wilson Odobert and Destiny Udogie to his squad.
That will give him a massive boost.
The Aussie's record against United is pretty good as well as in four games against us, he has won three and drawn the other. Zero defeats.
So at least he's got that going for him too.
Recent Meetings
The recent record doesn't bode well for United as in the previous five meetings in all competitions, there have been two draws, three Spurs wins and zero victories to United 😬.
The two games earlier this season were a 3-0 and 4-3 wins to Tottenham in the league and Carabao Cup.
It's about time we changed this record.
Prediction
Who knows?
We could go there and get smashed. We could smash them. It could be entertaining. It could be boring.
Anything is possible given the forms of the two sides.
One thing that I will say is that this fixture usually has it's fair share of drama. I believe that that will be the case again.
2-2 is my prediction.
Background player image: Harry Maguire | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)