Jose Mourinho will look to get one over his former employers this Friday when Tottenham Hotspur face Manchester United in their first game back in the Premier League. It had been a turbulent few weeks for Spurs prior to the season’s break in play and they are one of the few teams that will perhaps benefit from there being a restart.
It means that Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son, Moussa Sissoko and Steven Bergwijn are now all available for selection once again, giving Spurs a massive boost in their chase of a top four finish. Heading into Friday night’s game Spurs sit eighth in the Premier League table, seven points behind Chelsea in fourth, but can move to within one point of Man United in fifth with a win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
That in itself could be a point of significance, given the appeal of Manchester City’s potential ban from UEFA competitions for two seasons is set to be decided in the forthcoming weeks. Should the ban be upheld, fifth place would then earn a Champions League place, making this game all the more important for both teams.
Defeat for Spurs could all but end their hopes of reaching fifth never mind fourth, while United have the opportunity to eliminate one of the chasing pack.
As things currently stand, the bookmakers have Spurs as the 2/1 underdogs in this contest, perhaps a reflection of the form that Mourinho’s team were in prior to lockdown. Spurs had lost five of their last six games in all competitions during a run that also saw RB Leipzig end their hopes of avenging their defeat to Liverpool in last season’s Champions League final and knocked out of the FA Cup by Norwich City.
In the Premier League, they took just one point from a possible nine against Chelsea, Wolves and Burnley and won just once in the aftermath of what was a huge 2-0 win over Manchester City in February. Alternatively, United were unbeaten in 12 and now welcome back the previously injured Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford to their squad, leaving them as the 7/5 favourites to pick up the three points away from home. The draw is a 12/5 shot.
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Recent head-to-head meetings between the two clubs would also indicate that Spurs’ place as the underdogs in the game is deserving. United have won each of the last two games against Spurs in the Premier League, winning four of the last six games between the pair in all competitions.
However, don’t underestimate Mourinho’s ability to produce when the chips are down and the odds aren’t in their favour. The ‘us against the world’ mentality that he has so often been able to create at the clubs he’s been at tends to thrive in such positions and 2/1 is a decent price given the unpredictability associated with both teams and their preparations for the game.