Tottenham against Manchester United has always been considered one of the glamour fixtures of the English top-flight but the stakes are higher than normal ahead of Saturday’s clash in north London.
Red Devils Out to Avoid Another Nightmare
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is under massive pressure in the United hotseat following last week’s nightmare 5-0 reverse at the hands of old rivals Liverpool, a result and performance which left the Norwegian fighting for his job.
Solskjaer remains at the wheel for now, although should they lose at Spurs it will be difficult for the Red Devils boss to fight off even more criticism of his perceived weaknesses.
Spurs have already slayed Manchester City at home this term, but have not been firing on all cylinders themselves with fans mocking manager Nuno Espirito Santo at Burnley in Wednesday’s scrappy 1-0 success in the Carabao Cup.
“Nuno, Nuno make a sub” chanted the travelling supporters in reference to his late changes in Sunday’s disappointing 1-0 reverse at West Ham.
Tense Tussle Likely in Tottenham
Nuno could well do without a defeat in these circumstances and Solskjaer is also likely to adopt a more cautious approach which could lead to a tense tussle in Tottenham.
The draw could therefore offer a value bet at 5/2.
Only Norwich have had fewer shots than Spurs this season – a sin considering they possess Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane – but United have taken only one point from the last 12 available.
Favourites Should Have a Field Day
All of the Premier League’s heavyweights are in action on a bumper Saturday coupon and many punters will be looking at the Liverpool, City, Chelsea treble at short odds against Brighton, Crystal Palace and Newcastle respectively.
Liverpool could be the ones to make hay and rather than take them simply to win at 4/17 it could pay to go for the double-result option of them to also be leading at half-time as well as full-time at 4/6.
The Merseysiders have led at the break in all six of their Premier League triumphs this season and Mohamed Salah continues to play at a sensational level. Most of Jurgen Klopp’s big hitters were rested for Wednesday’s EFL Cup win at Preston and should be fresh.
Brighton were three down at the interval against City last week and could be similarly outclassed.
Interestingly, Palace have lost only twice this term which may mean they are worthy of consideration at 15/1 at the Etihad, but those two losses were 3-0 at Chelsea and Liverpool.
This is the same level of opponent.
Chelsea have conceded only three league goals this season – two of those were penalties – and they are 11/10 to beat Newcastle to nil.
Foxes Returning to Fantastic Form
Arsenal are unbeaten in six league games but it would be wrong to overestimate the form considering they were fortunate to pick up points against Brighton and Palace and there were 1-0 wins over struggling duo Norwich and Burnley.
Leicester made a poor start to the campaign, however, the wins over Brentford and United as well as cups successes both domestically and in the Europa League suggests the Foxes are on their way back to being more like their fantastic outfit of the last couple of seasons.
Brendan Rodgers hopes to have Jamie Vardy available and 7/5 they are worth a bet.
*All odds correct at time of writing.