We look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League clash at Old Trafford with our Man Utd vs Tottenham prediction and preview. Will Michael Carrick make it four wins in a row?
Man Utd vs Tottenham: The Key Stats
The Opta supercomputer has Manchester United as significant favourites to win this match, with the hosts victorious in exactly 50.0% of the pre-match simulations.
Man Utd are winless in their last six league games against Tottenham, drawing and losing three games apiece – it’s their joint-longest ever run without a win against Spurs.
Tottenham are on the second-longest unbeaten run (eight games in all competitions) any side has managed against United in the 21st century, after Chelsea’s 12 between 2012–2017
Manchester United have looked reborn over the past few weeks and they are looking to make it four Premier League wins on the bounce when they host Tottenham at Old Trafford in Saturday’s early kick-off.
United are on three wins from as many matches since Michael Carrick’s appointment as head coach until the end of the season, matching a feat his predecessor Ruben Amorim managed only once across 14 months in the dugout.
After 2-0 and 3-2 wins over Manchester City and Arsenal, United left it late to complete their third straight victory, with Benjamin Sesko coming to Carrick’s rescue in stoppage time against Fulham.
Goals either side of half-time from Casemiro and Matheus Cunha put United on the path to a comfortable three points, only for Raúl Jiménez’s late penalty and Kevin’s 91st-minute stunner to level things up for Fulham.
However, Sesko soon popped up to net once more, scoring United’s second stoppage-time winner in a Premier League home game this term. That’s as many as they managed across 2022–23 (none), 2023–24 (one) and 2024–25 (one) combined.
Later that same day, Spurs hosted United’s local rivals Manchester City in north London and, rather than letting a 2-0 lead slip, Thomas Frank’s side came back from that deficit to secure a 2-2 draw.
Without a Premier League win in 2026, Tottenham looked set for a third defeat from four games when City strolled into a 2-0 lead before half-time, with Rayan Cherki and new signing Antoine Semenyo scoring for the visitors.
A fit-again Dominic Solanke had other ideas, however, halving the deficit eight minutes after the restart, and then equalising with a spectacular scorpion-kick effort to rescue a point.
Those were Solanke’s first Premier League goals of an injury-hit season, although the England striker is averaging a goal every 88 minutes in all competitions, the best rate of any Spurs player.
Despite a heroic draw, it was another game without a victory for Tottenham, who are now winless in six Premier League games. It’s their longest barren run since a stretch of seven in 2024–25.
Hardly in form despite that draw with City, Spurs face a United side who have been far more clinical across the board than they were last season. Contributing to that has been their 14 goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties), second only to Premier League leaders Arsenal (17).
Bruno Fernandes has certainly played a part in that. He set up Casemiro’s opener against Fulham from a corner and has the most assists in the Premier League this season, with 12 – that’s his joint-best tally in a single campaign, level with 2020-21, despite not getting a single one in his first seven appearances this term.
Cunha is another United player who’s found a groove, scoring five goals in his last nine Premier League outings. Since the first of these on 15 December against Bournemouth, no player has scored more in the competition.
In terms of team news, Mason Mount is expected to be back “very soon” following a knock, but Patrick Dorgu and Matthijs de Ligt will be sidelined until the end of February at the earliest.
Spurs are leading the Premier League table in one sense – but that’s the injury table, unfortunately for Frank, with 13 players currently sidelined and still no return date in sight for the likes of Dejan Kulusevski and Kevin Danso.
Two-goal hero Solanke and defender Djed Spence are both struggling with lower leg injuries, and both players will be assessed with a chance of being fit enough to feature at Old Trafford.
Defensive duo Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven – the latter of whom ran riot at Old Trafford last season – also face late fitness tests, but Frank expects the pair to be available.
Man Utd vs Tottenham Head-to-Head
This season’s reverse fixture at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium produced a thriller of a 2-2 draw and, as has been the case for both United and Spurs in recent weeks, was impacted by late goals.
Bryan Mbeumo’s goal midway through the first half had the visitors on course for victory until the 84th minute, when Mathys Tel equalised.
Richarlison then turned the game on its head for Spurs by scoring in the first minute of stoppage time, but Matthijs de Ligt rose five minutes later to head home, levelling for United and making up for the deflection that took Tel’s strike past Senne Lammens.
Last season, Tottenham won this exact fixture 3-0 with Van de Ven dominating at both ends, but only once in the Premier League era have Spurs won consecutive away games against United at Old Trafford.
Man Utd v Tottenham Prediction
United’s recent uptick in form has resulted in them being heavy favourites to win this match with the Opta supercomputer.
From 10,000 pre-match simulations, the Red Devils won in exactly 50.0% of the outcomes, with Tottenham given a win probability rating of less than half that figure.
Spurs’ 24.8% chance of victory is less than that of a draw (25.3%), pouring water on the prospect of Frank’s side continuing their impressive record against United in recent seasons.
Manchester United vs Tottenham Predicted Lineups
Manchester United: Senne Lammens, Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martínez, Luke Shaw, Casemiro, Kobbie Mainoo, Amad Diallo, Bruno Fernandes, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo.
Head coach: Michael Carrick
Tottenham: Guglielmo Vicario, Archie Gray, João Palhinha, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie, Conor Gallagher, Pape Sarr, Randal Kolo Muani, Dominic Solanke, Xavi Simons.
Head coach: Thomas Frank
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 15,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off at Old Trafford on Saturday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides…