Manchester United will travel to North
London again this weekend, this time to face Tottenham Hotspur in the
Premier League at White Hart Lane, the last ever competitive match at
the stadium before it is demolished for development. Next season this
fixture will be played on the hallowed turf of Wembley. Both United and
Spurs have little to play for in the league at this stage; Spurs already
finishing second to champions Chelsea, who clinched their fifth Premier
League title on Friday evening with a 1-0 victory over West Bromwich
Albion, their sixth league title in total. United have nothing to play
for either sitting in sixth place, out of the Champions League places
and in with a tough chance at breaking through into the top four, with
Jose Mourinho stating it was impossible with three matches left to play
this season. Mourinho playing youth may just be the best thing that
could happen in the league, resting the players for their UEFA Europa
League final against Ajax in a week and a half.
Mourinho utilised Axel Tuanzebe from the
start against Arsenal last weekend, also giving Scott McTominay his
debut at the end of the match, which United lost 2-0. Both players could
be in with the chance to play again this weekend, but adding the likes
of Demetri Mitchell and maybe even Matthew Olosunde could be a good
thing for Mourinho and United, even though the U23’s will be due to face
Tottenham at Old Trafford on Monday evening, the final match of the
season at that level of football. United could use the last three league
matches of the season to blood in youth, test them at the top-level in
view of what to do next season. A new star could be unearthed – stranger
things have happened – look at Marcus Rashford, which will be viewed as
a benchmark for the youth players at this moment in time. Mourinho was
asked about his selections for the final three league matches of the
season, starting with Spurs away and he said:
“I approach these games the same. I
have to give some minutes to everyone because we only have 15 players.
We don’t have more. We only have 15 so I have to play them but I have to
play them in a mixed way and by periods. I don’t have another solution. In
the Premier League, we can only finish fifth or sixth. I don’t think we
can finish seventh or we can finish fourth so it’s fifth or sixth and we
can win a trophy. By winning that trophy, we can play in the Champions
League next season so that’s the game but, obviously, like we did
against Arsenal, we didn’t throw the match away. We played and we tried to win. We
gave a difficult match to our opponents and had chances to get a
different result. It’s what we are going to do. We are not going say
matches are not important – they are important. But we have one that is
more important than others. The match on Sunday is important for us
too.”
Match Officials: Jonathan Moss to officiate the last ever United v Spurs match at White Hart Lane
Jonathan Moss
will officiate the final match at White Hart Lane on Sunday. This will
be Moss’ 36th match of the season; 29th in the Premier League, also
officiating two League One matches, three FA Cup matches and two League
Cup matches this season. In total, Moss has shown 137 yellow cards and
three red cards in the matches he has taken charge of this season. This
will be his fifth match involving Manchester United this season, taking
charge of his fourth Premier League match involving Mourinho’s side; the
1-0 victory over Hull City, the 1-1 draw against West Ham United and the 3-1 victory over Middlesbrough. Moss also took charge of the 2-1 EFL Cup defeat to Hull City,
with United progressing to the final on aggregate. The assistant
referees have been names as Eddie Smart and Andy Halliday with the
fourth official confirmed as Lee Mason.
Form: United’s season can end with two trophies, Spurs have won nothing…
Manchester United: This
season, despite United’s league position, it has been a successful one.
United started with an FA Community Shield victory, winning the EFL Cup
on the hallowed turf of Wembley in February and could lift the UEFA
Europa League in Sweden at the end of the month, completing their haul
of every major honour the clubs has entered, which will be a foundation
ahead of next season where United will be tasked to take on Chelsea for
the Premier League title, lifting their second in three years at the end
of this season after clinching the title on Friday evening. Mourinho
has been successful, but United still require improvement, clearance of
the deadwood and taking a chance on youth, which could come over the
next three matches.
Tottenham Hotspur: Mauricio
Pochettino’s side have played attractive attacking football for most of
the season, coming unstuck when it mattered, allowing Chelsea to win
the Premier League – at the moment with ten points over their London
rivals. Spurs could peg that back to seven with a victory over United on
Sunday, but will their season have been all that successful? Spurs
exited the EFL Cup, the Emirates FA Cup, not to mention the UEFA
Champions League at the group stages and then the UEFA Europa League in
the round of 32. Winning nothing will be what Spurs’ season was all
about, despite looking good, what do they really have to show for it.
That will all come to a head in the final match at White Hart Lane,
where just like West Ham United, the London club will be looking to end
their time at the stadium on a high.
Team News: Youth to be given the chance by Jose Mourinho in penultimate away match of the season?
Manchester United will be without
Marouane Fellaini, who will be sitting out of his third league match in a
row after being sent off against Manchester City a few weeks ago, being
available for the final two matches of the season away to Southampton
and at home to Crystal Palace. Marcos Rojo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ashley
Young, Luke Shaw and Timothy Fosu-Mensah are all out for the remainder
of the season through injury. It is possible that Mourinho will rotate
his side like he did against Arsenal a week ago, possibly with some
youth players being granted a chance to show what they can do in order
to get in the manager’s plans next season. Mauricio Pochettino will be
without three players; Erik Lamela, Harry Winks and possibly Danny Rose
who was due to recover from his MCL injury ahead of this important match
– the final match at White Hart Lane.
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