United host Tottenham Sunday from Old Trafford
Former Manager returns with his new club
Table of Contents
Return to Old Trafford
Former United boss Jose Mourinho returns to his old stomping grounds Sunday as Tottenham face Manchester United.
The Portuguese man was in charge of the Reds from 2016-2018, leading United to the Europa League title in 2016-17.
That’s also the last trophy the club has captured.
Managers by comparison
Under Mourinho, United won 84 of the 144 games they played and lost 28.
In his two seasons in charge, his team finished in 6th and 2nd respectively in the Premier League.
In a season and a half since taking charge, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has won 52 games and lost 22 in 94 matches as United boss.
Players missing
For Tottenham Heung-Min Son and Giovani Lo Celso are doubtful.
Son is nursing a hamstring injury from last week though Mourinho has yet to rule him out.
Lo Celso came off with a knock in Thursday’s victory over Maccabi Haifa.
New signing Gareth Bale is still recovering from a knee injury and will not feature for Spurs this weekend.
United are relatively healthy heading into Sunday.
Phil Jones and Axel Tuanzebe are still sidelined because of injury.
Captain Harry Maguire has recovered from a knock he took on his ankles last week in the dramatic victory over Brighton and should be good to go.
Notable stats
Man United have not lost to Spurs in their last three Premier League meetings against the London club. Before that, however, they’d lost four of their last six encounters with Tottenham.
The last six top-flight victories Tottenham has enjoyed at Old Trafford came under a different manager each time.
In the last 14 matches between both clubs at Old Trafford, none of them have ended in a draw; United has won 11 to Spurs’ three.
United lost their opening game of the season 3-2 to Crystal Palace.
The last time they lost their first two home games to start an EPL season was back in 1986-87.
Tottenham have struggled to keep the ball out of their net on the road lately.
In their last 27 Premier League away contests, Spurs have kept just two clean sheets.
Players to Watch
For Spurs, the player who will draw plenty of attention as expected is Harry Kane.
The top scorer at the World Cup in 2018, Kane has been the model of consistency winning the Premier League Golden Boot in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
In his past six seasons, he’s not scored less than 17 goals in all competitions for Spurs.
He’s shown he can be a provider so far this season, leading the Premier League in assists with 5.
Heung-Min Son has helped take some of the pressure off Kane in the goal-scoring department with 4 so far.
If he can’t go Sunday though that’ll make life a lot easier for United’s back four who’ve struggled in EPL play conceding 5 goals in just two games.
For United, it will be interesting to see who Solskjaer starts in goal.
David de Gea has started both Premier League matches while Henderson has put up two clean sheets at the Carabao Cup.
De Gea has been the far busier of the two keepers but Henderson has made critical saves when called upon for United.
Bruno Fernandes has been the most consistent threat for the Reds with a goal and an assist including the decisive penalty last week against Brighton.
Upfront the attack of Martial, Rashford, and Greenwood, who scored over 60 goals between them last season has been slow out of the gate.
So far in two games, they’ve only scored one goal through Rashford in EPL play.
They’ll be eager to break loose on Sunday.
Game Info
Game time Sunday from Old Trafford is at 4:30 pm. (JSL)
