Manchester United are back in action in the Premier League this afternoon as they prepare to travel to London to take on Tottenham Hotspur.
The Red Devils are looking to push up the table to compete for a European place in the second half of the season and three points today will be another step in the right direction.
Ruben Amorim’s side took to the field in the FA Cup last time out, however, and secured a 2-1 win over fellow Premier League outfit Leicester City at Old Trafford, thanks to a last-minute goal from Harry Maguire.
It will be a different kind of game against Ange Postecoglou’s struggling Spurs team this afternoon, though, as they face another big club desperate to turn their fortunes around.
Tottenham were beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa in the FA Cup last weekend and they had been hammered 4-0 by Liverpool in the second leg of their League Cup semi-final in the previous midweek.
Spurs arranged that semi-final meeting with Arne Slot’s side, though, by beating Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the competition back in December.
Manchester United's last meeting with Tottenham Hotspur
The quarter-final clash was the last time the two teams met each other in any competition, as they played in North London on the 19th of December last year.
Chalkboard
It was the hosts who took the lead when Pedro Porro’s long-range effort was parried straight back out to Dominic Solanke, who made no mistake on the rebound.
Dejan Kulusevski made it 2-0 within a minute after the start of the second-half, converting from close-range, before Solanke beat Lisandro Martinez with ease and slotted in his second and Tottenham’s third in the 54th minute.
Joshua Zirkzee pulled one back when Bruno Fernandes’ ball across the box found the striker almost on the line to tap into an empty net to make it 3-1.
There was then a glimmer of hope for the Red Devils when Amad Diallo closed down Fraser Forster and found the back of the net by tackling the ball into the goal.
Their hopes of a comeback were dashed, however, when Heung-min Son scored directly from a corner in the 88th minute to make it 4-2 to the hosts, before Jonny Evans made it 4-3 in the 94th minute.
Amorim and his United side will now be looking for revenge against Spurs for that disappointing defeat, which cost them the chance to play against Liverpool in the semi-finals, and the Red Devils head coach could look to make some changes from the team that beat Leicester last time out.
Why Kobbie Mainoo has to be replaced
Kobbie Mainoo is set to miss the match through injury and this means that he will need to be replaced in the starting XI, after he played on the left wing against the Foxes.
The England international has made the majority (51/60) of his appearances for the first-team as either a defensive or central midfielder since he emerged from the academy.
His last two outings for the Red Devils, however, have been as a left-sided attacking midfielder against Leicester and as a centre-forward against Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
Mainoo had managed five goals and one assist in 51 matches as a central or defensive midfielder for United in all competitions, and Amorim has seemingly seen something in his game to suggest that he could thrive in an attacking role moving forward.
However, his performance on the left flank against Leicester and as a centre-forward against Palace suggest that the Portuguese manager should have dropped him from the team even if he were not injured.
Position
CF
LAM
Goals + assists
0
0
Shots on target
0
0
Dribbles completed
0/4
0/1
Key passes
1
0
Duels won
3/13
2/6
As you can see in the table above, Mainoo offered very little at the top end of the pitch in his two starts in those attacking positions, with zero shots on target and one key pass in the two games combined.
Amorim’s experiment has not gone to plan but he will now have to plan without the English dynamo for this clash with Spurs, as he is unavailable for selection.
This has opened up a space in the left-sided attacking midfield position for the former Sporting manager to bring Alejandro Garnacho, who could be a brilliant replacement, into the starting XI this afternoon.
Why Alejandro Garnacho should start
The Argentina international was initially on the bench for the 2-1 win over Leicester last time out in the FA Cup and was brought on at half-time to replace Patrick Dorgu.
Garnacho can be a frustrating player to watch at times, because his end product is not always up to scratch, but he always makes things happen and causes constant problems for opposition defenders, even if it does not always pay off.
His cameo against the Foxes is a prime example of that. The 20-year-old starlet registered four shots on goal and two shots on target, whilst also creating one chance, in just 45 minutes of football, yet did not record a goal or an assist.
Garnacho’s constant running and the threat of his pace in behind the Leicester defence did, though, force the opposition back and allow United to gain more control in their half in the match, eventually leading to the comeback.
The Argentine youngster, who was described as a “generational” talent by Statman Dave earlier this season, is always connected to the game and rarely goes missing from the action.
Non-penalty xG
0.36
Top 13%
Non-penalty goals
0.18
Bottom 30%
Shots
3.79
Top 4%
Non-penalty xG + xAG
0.54
Top 12%
Shot-creating actions
3.82
Top 49%
Progressive carries
5.79
Top 8%
As you can see in the table above, Garnacho gets himself into great positions on a regular basis, hence why he ranks so highly among his peers for xG, shot-creating actions, and progressive carries.
However, he needs to improve the final action, as shown by his placement in the bottom 30% for non-penalty goals. At 20, the winger still has plenty of time left ahead of him to develop and improve that side of his game.
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In the immediate future, today, Amorim must hope that he can take a step in the right direction by delivering a goal contribution, or multiple, in a win over Spurs this afternoon, coming in to replace Mainoo in the starting line-up.