Spurs look to go for the kill against United

IT MAY only be October but tomorrow’s clash between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford is already shaping up as an earlyseason eliminator to challenge runaway leaders Manchester City for the Premier League title. Despite being at home and above Spurs on goal difference, second-placed United will be very wary of the league’s team of the moment.

Tottenham’s 4-1 destruction of Liverpool last week, soon after United’s uninspiring goalless draw at Anfield, means the visitors will arrive full of confidence despite their shock 3-2 defeat by West Ham United in the League Cup on Wednesday.

“Spurs know it will be a measure of themselves playing there,” former United assistant manager Mike Phelan told Sky Sports.

“But I don’t think [the two results] will change Jose Mourinho’s mentality. The expectation at Old Trafford is always to win.”

That will not be easy against a team of so many permutations. Against Real Madrid, Spurs played with a target man, Fernando Llorente; for Liverpool it was the blistering pace of Son Heung-min alongside Harry Kane.

In Kane, Spurs have a striker in hotter form than even United’s Romelu Lukaku with nine goals in six games, while their defence look a more coherent unit than United’s in the continued absence of the injured Eric Bailly.

While the expected return of Phil Jones should ensure no repeat of last week’s disasters in the 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield Town, Mourinho’s sharp criticism suggested all is not right in United’s camp and the absence of Paul Pogba has deprived them of their early-season swagger. — Reuters