Manchester United vs Tottenham LIVE: Premier League result and final score after Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick
Follow live coverage as Antonio Conte’s Spurs travel to Old Trafford in a pivotal match in the race to finish in the top four of the Premier League
Tottenham travel to Manchester United in the evening kick-off in the Premier League with the outcome likely to be pivotal in the race for a top four finish.
Spurs went down 3-0 at home to the Red Devils last October with both sides under different managers. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Nuno Espirito Santo have since been replaced by Ralf Rangnick and Antonio Conte, while Arsenal are the pace-setters in fourth after an impressive run of form from Mikel Arteta’s side, most recently in their slick attacking display at Watford.
Discussion has centred around Conte’s future, which will be decided at the end of the season as the Italian has demaned the club match his ambition with facts and not words: “For sure at the moment there is only one truth - I am committed to this club for another year. For sure it is true that I would like this - to fight for the future, to fight to be competitive, to fight to win and not only to finish fourth in the league, because I repeat, that is not my ambition.
“My ambition is to be competitive and to fight to win. I want this and I know my heart, my soul, my mind wants these things. I hope myself and the club match each other in this situation. For sure, you need in the future to have other important steps and to have ambition. And it needs to be ambition with facts, not only with words.” Follow live goal and score updates, build-up, analysis, reaction and more from Old Trafford below:
Manchester United vs Tottenham
Ralf Rangnick was asked about Tottenham’s biggest threats and how they could potentially hurt Manchester United this afternoon. There’s no prizes for guessing what he said:
They are playing in a 3-4-3 or a 5-2-3. At times they are very defensive and sit in a deep block waiting for the counter-attacking moments and their biggest threat is that combination with Kulusevski but even more so with Heung Min-Son and Harry Kane.”
Manchester United vs Tottenham: Head-to-head
Manchester United could win three consecutive league games against Tottenham for the first time since a run of four between April 2009 and October 2010.
Spurs have suffered 37 Premier League defeats to Manchester United - no side has beaten them more in the division but all four of Tottenham’s Premier League wins at Old Trafford have come in their last nine visits, including by 6-1 last season.
Manchester United vs Tottenham: Team changes
Ralf Rangnick makes five changes to the Manchester United team that lost 4-1 to Manchester City last weekend. Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Victor Lindelof make way for Diogo Dalot and Raphael Varane in defence with Nemanja Matic, Marcus Rashford and Cristiano Ronaldo all returning. David De Gea is fit to start but Bruno Fernandes misses the game due to illness.
Antonio Conte makes just one change to his Tottenham line-up. Ryan Sessegnon is out with a hamstring injury and Sergio Reguilon comes in at left wingback to replace him.
Manchester United vs Tottenham: Line-ups
Man Utd XI: De Gea, Dalot, Varane, Maguire, Telles, Fred, Matic, Sancho, Pogba, Rashford, Ronaldo
Tottenham XI: Lloris, Romero, Dier, Davies, Doherty, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Reguilon, Kulusevski, Son, Kane
Manchester United vs Tottenham
The players have arrived at Old Trafford with the official team news expected in just over five minutes time. Will Cristiano Ronaldo start for Man Utd?
Manchester United vs Tottenham
Tottenham boss, Antonio Conte, says that his team is ready to go against Man Utd but hopes to instill a game-by-game mentality on his squad. Speaking after Spurs’ victory over Everton last time out, Conte said:
I want us to show this type of mentality, to think about the next game. As I said, we played a really good game against Everton, got the three points, but the most important game for us is the game against United.
“We don’t forget that we lost 3-0 at home (in October) and, for sure, we are talking about a really important squad. At the same time, we have improved, and we are improving through our work every day.
“It was a good result against Everton, then we’ve had good training sessions to prepare for the game against Manchester United, a big game. We are ready to play.”
Manchester United face nervous wait to see if Antonio Conte gamble pays off
What would Manchester United’s season look like if Antonio Conte had replaced Ole Gunnar Solskjaer? It is the obvious question to ask ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s visit to Old Trafford this weekend, one raised in the Sky Sports studio after last Sunday’s humiliation in the Manchester derby, but in a lot of ways it is a moot point.
The prospect of Conte becoming United’s next permanent manager was played down almost as quickly as it was brought up back in October. Support for Solskjaer within the club was seriously waning in the aftermath of the 5-0 home defeat by Liverpool but Conte had few advocates of his own.
United’s reservations were well documented at the time, the biggest being the Italian’s confrontational style of managing both up and down. There were – rightly or wrongly – fears of a repeat of Jose Mourinho’s tenure, which ended in a toxic working environment and left Old Trafford’s key decision-makers seeking the ‘cultural reset’ that ultimately led to Solskjaer.
Manchester United face nervous wait to see if Antonio Conte gamble pays off
The club opted against pursuing the Italian as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s successor, with Conte joining Spurs as the Red Devils appointed Ralf Rangnick
Manchester United vs Tottenham
Ralf Rangnick spoke about what he’s expecting from Tottenham this afternoon and has identified a few weaknesses in Antonio Conte’s team that he hopes his players can exploit. The Man Utd boss said:
We have watched enough games like we always do. We prepare our team for the next opponent, one of the best transitional teams in transitional moments with Heung Min-Son and Harry Kane.
“On the other hand they are also vulnerable at the back. There must be some reasons why they lost games against Burnley away, Middlesborough or against Wolves.
“We are fully aware about their assets and the strengths they have in their team with the style of football and that we can beat them on the day.”
Manchester United vs Tottenham
This is a huge game for Manchester United and Tottenham. Both teams are competing for a place in the top four. Man Utd head into the match in fifth with a two-point lead over Spurs and trailing Arsenal (4th) by one. If the Red Devils win today they’ll move back into the top four ahead of Arsenal’s game against Leicester tomorrow.
Tottenham (7th) have two games in hand on Manchester United so defeat today isn’t as big a killer blow as it could have been. If they win though, they’ll move ahead of United and draw level on points with Arsenal. The last time Spurs came to Old Trafford they put six goals past David De Gea despite going behind in the second minute of the game. Could history repeat itself today?
Manchester United vs Tottenham: Recent results
Manchester United haven’t won in three games across all competitions since beating Leeds 4-2 away from home on 20th February. In that time they’ve drawn against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League and Watford in the Premier League before Manchester City battered them 4-1 in the derby last time out. Jadon Sancho cancelled out Kevin De Bruyne’s opener but City’s playmaker sent them back in front six minutes later. They took a 2-1 lead into half-time and then swept United away with two goals from Riyad Mahrez in the second half.
On the other hand Tottenham will be full of confidence. Since a 1-0 loss to Burnley at Turf Moor, Spurs have won their last two Premier League games scoring nine goals in that time. They put four past Leeds at Elland Road before hammering Everton 5-0 at home last time out. Harry Kane is hitting form at the right time and Dejan Kulusevski has made a bright start to his Tottenham career.
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