Man Utd v Tottenham predictions: Old Trafford stalemate on the cards

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Manchester United vs Tottenham in the Premier League on Wednesday.

Where to watch

Amazon Prime Video, 8.15pm

Best bet

Draw
1pt 13-5 Betfred

Team news

Man Utd
Scott McTominay is available after a ban. Harry Maguire, Donny van de Beek and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are out but Christian Eriksen and Antony Martial could return.

Tottenham
Richarlison (calf) and Dejan Kulusevski (hamstring) are injured, while Emerson Royal is suspended.

Match preview

Two teams who are proving hard to beat meet at Old Trafford where a tight encounter could end in Manchester United and Tottenham taking a point apiece.

United have recovered from a shocking start to the season but are struggling to score goals. Spurs, meanwhile, are in better shape, they are already seven points better off than United, albeit having played a game more, and have lost only once in the Premier League this term.

United are far steelier at the back under Erik ten Hag these days though, and go into the game following back-to-back clean sheets.

Tottenham love to play on the counter but they may well be less of a threat than usual in the final third on Wednesday evening.

Ordinarily Antonio Conte can perm either Dejan Kulusevski or Richarlison with ten-goal Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son in a fearsome front three. But neither Kulusevski nor Richarlison are available which means Conte will likely have to switch from his beloved 3-4-3 to a 3-5-2 set-up which eventually overwhelmed Everton on Saturday. That said, he could opt to stick Ivan Perisic or a fit-again but rusty Lucas Moura on the left side of his attack.

There's still a sense that in busy weeks like this there's a lack of depth about Tottenham which does make them look a little exposed.

United have arguably more options, although Ten Hag is still confronted by problems that have never gone away. Defensively they look better under his watch but there's a major question mark over who scores the goals. And they have loads of injuries to deal with as well.

They'd like to be positive but Tottenham are well-organised and United's box-office stars, Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo, aren't at it at the moment. The problem is, swap Ronaldo for Marcus Rashford – who isn't a number nine – and the threat is different but the English ace is not a natural finisher.

Ten Hag will hope Christian Eriksen has recovered from an illness that kept him out of Sunday's goalless draw with Newcastle because he at least has the imagination and guile when sheer pace isn't working.

But the bottom line is United were the lowest scorers of the top nine heading into this midweek round of matches with 13 goals from their nine league outings.

That said, and a reason they are desperately difficult to discount, they have beaten both Liverpool and Arsenal at Old Trafford this season.

And rival turf has not been so kind to Tottenham, as they have won only two of their seven away matches in all competitions this season and have just three goals to show from their last five games on the road.