Manchester United vs Tottenham Preview: Can Frank & Co. crash Carrick’s high-flying party?
Tottenham Hotspur found their long-lost confidence in the second half against Manchester City last week, where Thomas Frank & Co. came from a two-goal trail to draw against Pep Guardiola’s Citizens at N17. And many Lilywhites supporters have been hoping for this to be a turning point for their domestic fortunes this season.
The North Londoners lie fourteenth (14) in the Premier League ladder as they go into this weekend’s round of fixtures, with all lost points raising pressure on the Danish head coach at the helm at Hotspur Way.
But while the opponents this Saturday are another Manchester side, this time around, Spurs will get out of London to make that three-ish-hour trip to Old Trafford, where they will rub shoulders against Michael Carrick’s high-flying reds.
Man United decided to pull the plug on Ruben Amorim and brought in their midfield legend Carrick in an interim role. And that has worked wonders for them, as they won three games in a row, including two big scalps where they defeated Manchester City and Arsenal in two consecutive weekends. Last time around, they took the field, United had to dig deep, as it took a 90-plus four-minute strike from Benjamin Sesko to secure all three points against Fulham at Old Trafford.
And while two lost giants find a rare sense of form this season, they will rub shoulders to determine where both are in their rejuvenation before going into the heavy half of the 2025/26 campaign.
Match Info
Stadium: Old Trafford, Manchester
Date: Saturday, 7th February, 2026
Time: Kickoff scheduled at 12:30 HRS
Team News
Manchester United
Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick tipped to replace Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham.
Manchester United vs Tottenham Preview: Michael Carrick has a few injury problems.
The to-be-hosts had three absentees in their dramatic late win over Fulham last weekend, with Patrick Dorgu out after his injury following that Arsenal game, while their centre-back Matthijs de Ligt has not been featuring for United since November because of back problems.
Carrick did see Joshua Zirkzee return to the matchday squad against the Cottagers after his spell on the sidelines, which lasted for about a couple of games.
Mason Mount was also not among United’s roster for that Fulham game. When Carrick was quizzed about it, he cited an injury knock for his absence, saying, “He took a bit of a knock in training, but it’s nothing serious. We’re disappointed he is not with us today, but he’ll be back very soon.”
It’s almost time for the Tottenham game, and the Chelsea academy graduate is yet to train with the first team at Carrington.
Tottenham
cristian-romero-and-micky-van-de-ven-emerge-as-standouts-in-spurs-tough-season
Manchester United vs Tottenham Preview: Spurs will be sweating on VDV and Romero fitness.
For the Lilywhites, the injury concerns are ever growing. But there will be hope that Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven make it to fitness for this weekend’s game against the Manchester Reds. The former was subbed off at half-time against Man City last weekend owing to illness, while the latter did not feature against the Cityzens at all.
Dominic Solanke also took off that City game with some injury concerns, as he was seen on the bench repeatedly looking at his ankle after he was subbed. This will worry a lot of Tottenham supporters, given how he is in top form at the moment.
Djed Spence has been fighting some calf problems going into this weekend’s game. And we will see if he will be available or not.
The long-term absentees like James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski continue to serve on the sidelines.
Predicted Lineups
Manchester United: Lammens; Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw; Casemiro, Mainoo; Amad, Bruno, Cunha, Mbeumo
Tottenham: Vicario; Gray, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie; Bissouma, Palhinha, Gallagher; Odobert, Solanke, Simons
Tactical preview
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Can Thomas Frank out-smart Carrick?
Michael Carrick has this United side playing quite vertically, which is what made it difficult for the likes of Man City and Arsenal to contain them. And they do so with a sense of urgency that was barely seen at United all season. Now this is where Thomas Frank can push to play compact and maybe have that extra protection down the middle with Bissouma complementing Palhinha in a double pivot.
But United’s threat doesn’t end here; they have been quite good at carrying the ball from out to inside and trying to test the goalkeeper’s resolve. Surprisingly they did get space to do that against all of their last three opponents, but Thomas Frank is widely known to put out some of the most hectic blocks that this league has seen.
Tottenham will have to ride out the initial minutes and grow into the game. The spaces in behind United will start appearing as the game progresses. Hopefully, Solanke is fit enough.
This is a game where someone like Odobert can make a huge impact with his potent carrying abilities.
Gallagher will need to open his body a bit more to make a grinding impact from midfield like he used to do at Crystal Palace. We did not see a lot of that till the second half against City.
Prediction
While Manchester United have been in top form of late, Tottenham have shown how they can grind out a result in Champions League games, and we saw a bit of it against Man City last week. And that is what Frank & Co. will be expected to do again this time around as well.
Manchester United 2 – 2 Tottenham