The headline fixture in gameweek two of the 2023-24 Premier League season sees Tottenham Hotspur welcome Manchester United to their North London headquarters on Saturday evening.
Ange Postecoglou’s side began their new campaign with a 2-2 draw away to London rivals Brentford last weekend, while the Red Devils scraped a controversial 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
A few lucky stars were being counted at the Theatre of Dreams on Monday evening, as Man United just about got over the line against Wolves thanks to a Raphael Varane header, but there were concerns aplenty for Erik ten Hag as Gary O’Neil’s side launched a wave of unexpected attacks.
Andre Onana earned his keep for the most part, but the Cameroonian shot-stopper survived a heart-in-mouth moment in the dying embers, as neither Simon Hooper nor VAR official Michael Salisbury deemed his collision with Sasa Kalajdzic inside the box to be penalty-worthy.
Wolves boss O’Neil subsequently claimed that he had received an apology from PGMOL chief Jonathan Moss – another beg-pardon to add to the list – and all officials involved have curiously been dropped for this weekend’s fixtures; not that the Old Trafford faithful will care.
United lost Lisandro Martinez to a minor ankle injury against Wolves, although his center-back partner Varane played down the severity of his colleague’s issue after the match.
Victor Lindelof is on standby in case Martinez is not given the green light, as is Harry Maguire, who will seemingly be staying at Old Trafford for the 2023-24 campaign after a proposed £30m transfer to West Ham United collapsed.
Rasmus Hojlund (back), Kobbie Mainoo (ankle), Tyrell Malacia (knee), Amad Diallo (knee) and Tom Heaton (calf) make up a quintet of known absentees for Ten Hag, who should consider a recall for ex-Tottenham man Christian Eriksen in the center of the field.
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