da brwin： Six points and one Premier League place separate Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. This Sunday they face each other at Old Trafford. Pre-season title ambitions for both sides look a distant pipe dream, these days: Jose Mourinho and Mauricio Pochettino are now just honing in on a top four finish.
da doce： [ffc_insert title=”Cantona: The Iconic and the Ironic” name=”Golden Goal” image=”https://www.footballfancast.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/1997-04-23T000000Z_1_MT1ACI148037_RTRMADP_3_ENGLAND-SOCCER-MNU.jpg?admin” link=”https://www.footballfancast.com/premier-league/manchester-united/golden-goal-king-eric-and-a-story-of-delicious-irony” link_text=”Cantona’s greatest moment” ]
European football has finished – that’s one distraction out the way – until both teams return for the Europa League in the new year. As a lecturing father would say, its time to ‘knuckle down’, time for clubs to focus on what they really want from the 2016/17 season. For these two sides, that may well be as good as determined by the outcome of Sunday’s clash.
Manchester United’s one win in eight league games and penchant for draws does not tell the full story. Failure to convert chances and an ability to concede goals from almost any circumstance has cost Mourinho’s side, despite the fact that their performances have marginally improved of late. That being said, however, this is not a game where excuses or misfiring players can be accepted, anything other than victory for the Red Devils will deliver a potentially fatal blow to their top four hopes. A pattern of convincing cup victories in midweek followed by poor league results has emerged and they cannot afford that to continue after their 2-0 victory against Zorya Luhansk on Thursday.
In the other changing room, Spurs will see this as a chance to keep pace with the top four ahead of Manchester City’s clash with Arsenal next weekend. Seven points off league-leading Chelsea, the Lilywhites are unlikely to mount a significant title challenge this season, but are within striking distance of City and Arsenal. Mauricio Pochettino has stuck true to his principals throughout some tricky spells this season, but those principals will be tested further. His team selection will tell us a lot about his ambitions for this season, in fact. If Spurs are serious about a continued push for the Premier League crown, they must win this game. While Pochettino will welcome back Toby Alderweireld to the heart of the defence, his game management will reveal a great deal about his current thought processes.
The current deficit Manchester United are faced with can be talked down with this fixture in mind. Victory takes them to within a slip-up of catching Spurs, but failure to win this weekend would see Jose Mourinho’s side a long way adrift. Potentially overtaken by Stoke City, Everton and West Bromwich Albion, Manchester United’s season could yet hinge on this game. With each failure to close the gap, chances of another season without Champions League football increase and the subsequent financial consequences would be emphatic. The bare minimum expected, particularly for a manager of Mourinho’s calibre, is to keep a side within touching distance of the top teams. All the investment, all the promise last summer cannot be forgotten. The disappointment of the season so far at Old Trafford will swell even further with a poor result on Sunday afternoon.
A draw will keep Spurs content, but Mourinho cannot afford to settle into his trademark, cagey big game approach. Few games in the first half of a season will be as significant as this one. It can define the standings of two teams and give the clearest indication yet of who will make the top four at the end of the season.
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