Manchester United suffered their first defeat after an unbeaten Premier League run of 25 games. Their 0-2 loss to Arsenal at the Emirates means that they are still rooted to the 5th spot and 4 points behind Manchester City. Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur’s title aspirations were dealt a hammer blow literally at the London stadium on Sunday when they were shocked 0-1 by a 12th-placed West Ham United. Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United and Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur now meet at White Hart lane for a critical Premier League that will give clear indications as to where these teams would stand at the end of the season.
Jose Mourinho has hinted that he will rest some of his key players for the Tottenham clash in event of a positive outcome in the forthcoming Europa League 2nd leg clash against Celta Vigo. On the other hand, with no European aspirations, Spurs would like to make the most of the White Hart Lane game by fielding the best possible XI against the Red Devils. A full-blown Spurs attack consisting of Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, Del Alli and Eriksen lacked conviction and despite 70 per cent of the possession came back goal-less from the West Ham encounter. But the positive for Mauricio Pochettino’s men will be that they will play next Sunday’s match at home and the visitors will have a near impossible task of snatching a victory at the Lane. Tottenham have not lost a single of their 16 games of the 2016-17 season at home, in fact, winning as many as 14 of them.
The onus would be on the Spurs to win the May 14th game against United. Thanks to last weekend’s upset against West ham and Chelsea’s 3-0 home win over Middlesbrough on Monday, the gap between the top two has widened to 8 points putting the title almost beyond Tottenham’s grasp.
United came back win-less from their last four trips to the Lane with the last one resulting in a 0-3 loss. Bookmakers aren’t expecting Sunday’s clash to produce any surprise results as odds would suggest. A draw though would mean shutters on Tottenham’s title hopes once and for all for the 2016-17 season. A win for United wouldn’t be of much help to them either as they would still be one point short of 4th placed Manchester City’s tally of 69.
Recommended Tip:
Manchester United Double Chance, Best Odds 6/5