The Independent

Kulusevski to finally return to Spurs bench after more than 500 days  The Independent

Man Utd vs Tottenham betting tips

Two sides in desperate need of a win go head-to-head at Old Trafford on Saturday when Manchester United host Tottenham Hotspur (5:30pm, Sky Sports Main Event).

United are currently 12th in the league with just five points from their opening five matches, and their only win came against Ipswich Town when they came from a goal down to win 5-2 at home.

They looked like they had bounced back from their opening day defeat to Hull City, but since that win over Ipswich, they have drawn with Everton and Fulham and lost to Manchester City.

Spurs sit bottom of the league and are priced at 9/1 for relegation on some betting sites as they search for their first win of the season. Their only points have come from draws with Nottingham Forest and Everton and they go into the game on the back of two defeats after reverses to Liverpool in the League Cup and Aston Villa last time out in the league.

They were 3-0 down at home to Unai Emery’s side before Conor Gallagher and Jan Paul van Hecke scored in the last four minutes to make the scoreline slightly more respectable, but manager Roberto Di Zerbi is still under huge pressure to turn things around.

The Italian isn’t the favourite to be the next manager to lose his job, though; that honour goes to United boss Michael Carrick. Football betting sites are offering just 5/2 on him being the next manager to leave his role, with Di Zerbi just behind him at 11/4.

Man Utd vs Tottenham betting preview: Pressure to keep on mounting

It’s not really clear who needs a win more this weekend, but the pressure is definitely more on Carrick and United as they are at home.

They have also lost their last two matches at Old Trafford with the controversial 1-0 defeat to Man City, followed by a 3-2 League Cup defeat to Brighton, despite leading 2-0 after just nine minutes.

Regardless of the recent form of Spurs, the Red Devils don’t have the best record against their London rivals, winning just one of their last nine meetings.

That came last time out when they took advantage of the early sending-off of Christian Romero to win 2-0 thanks to goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Bruno Fernandes.

Mbeumo also scored at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when the sides played out a 2-2 draw and three of the goals came in added time.

Goals have been a problem for Spurs so far, with just two in their opening five games, which both came against Villa, but United have looked anything but solid at the back, conceding in all five games and two in three of those matches.

United are odds-on for the win on some betting apps, but you can also get just 11/20 on both teams scoring, so no one is expecting an easy afternoon for Carrick.

You can get 19/10 on both teams to score and United to win, but with injury doubts over Benjamin Sesko and Amad Diallo, as well as Patrick Dorgu and Noussair Mazraoui, who were both forced to cut short their international duty due to injury concerns, Spurs may just take something from the game.

Man Utd vs Spurs prediction 1: Draw & BTTS - 4/1 BetVictor

Mbeumo to haunt Spurs again

Bryan Mbeumo has a pretty impressive record against Spurs; as well as scoring a goal in each of last season’s meetings, he scored four more for Brentford, including a brace in a 3-1 win back in 2023.

So far this season, he has scored twice in the five league appearances against Ipswich and Everton, and betting apps have him at 7/4 to score at any time or 6/1 on him opening the scoring, as he did against the Toffees.

Man Utd vs Spurs prediction 2: Mbeumo to score at any time - 7/4 Sky Bet

Man Utd vs Spurs team news

Man Utd vs Spurs predicted lineups:

Man Utd: Lammens; Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw; Tielemans, Santos; Mbuemo, Fernandes, Rashford; Cunha.

Spurs: Kinsky; Porro, Van Hecke, Van de Ven, Robertson; Bentancur, Tonali; Savio, Fernandes, Marmoush; Solanke.

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Ex-Spurs defender to stand in Fifa election against Gianni Infantino  The Independent

Tottenham star banned from driving for speeding a day after heavy defeat by Arsenal  The Independent

Lauren Hemp scored twice as Manchester City came from behind on two occasions to beat Arsenal 4-2 in the Women's Super League on Sunday, keeping the champions top of the table heading into the international break after a fifth straight win from their opening five matches.

Arsenal went ahead through Lisa Baum in the 43rd minute, but City levelled when Hemp forced the ball home from a tight angle in first-half stoppage time.

Alessia Russo put the Gunners back in front four minutes after the break but again City came back, Kerstin Casparij equalising in the 63rd minute before Hemp put them in front for the first time nine minutes later.

Striker Bunny Shaw sealed the three points in the 84th minute with her ⁠fifth goal of the season to condemn Arsenal, who are without a win ​since the ⁠opening day of the season, ‌to their second straight defeat after losing 1-0 away to Chelsea last week.

The loss leaves Arsenal in 10th spot on five points from five games after a dismal start to the campaign.

Earlier in the afternoon, ‌Sonia Bompastor's Chelsea thumped West Ham United 3-0 to put them into second place, two points behind City. They took the lead thanks to a Melvine Malard strike and added two late goals ⁠through Keira Walsh and Maika Hamano.

London City Lionesses showed that they will be a force to be reckoned with in the title race, Alexia Putellas scoring twice in the first half of a 6-1 thrashing of Tottenham Hotspur, who were left shell-shocked by the pressing of the visitors.

Spurs had only conceded two goals in the first four outings, but they were hit for six as London City notched ‌their third successive win in impressive fashion to move to third ​place on 12 points.

Charlton Athletic, who are still searching for their first point since being promoted, remain bottom of the 14-team table after a 5-1 hammering at the hands of Brighton & Hove Albion, with Kiko Seike scoring twice for the Seagulls.

Everton's strong start to the season continued ‌with a 2-1 win ​over Birmingham City that lifts them to ‌fifth spot in the table on ​nine points, two ahead of cross-town rivals Liverpool, who lost 1-0 to Manchester United on Saturday.

Reuters

Roberto De Zerbi gets vote of confidence from Tottenham chief after dismal winless run  The Independent

Flo Clifford

Saturday 19 September 2026 15:35 BST

Aston Villa secured their first Premier League win of the season with a 3-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Johan Manzambi opened the scoring for Villa before second-half goals from Nicolas Jackson and Emi Buendia put the visitors 3-0 ahead.

Conor Gallagher ended Tottenham's four-game league goal drought in the 87th minute before Jan Paul van Hecke scored a second late in the match.

The defeat leaves Tottenham winless in the Premier League this season and entering the international break inside the relegation zone.

Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi faced boos from home supporters following high summer spending and a midweek Carabao Cup exit.

More bulletins

Roberto De Zerbi has offered a triple injury boost for Tottenham as they look to end their agonising wait for a Premier League goal this season.

Tottenham face Aston Villa on Saturday hoping for their season to finally kick into second gear, though they come into the match off the back of a babystep in the right direction from their Carabao Cup third-round tie against Liverpool.

Though they exited the competition to Andoni Iraola’s second-string side, they found the net against top-flight opposition for the first time this term in a 3-1 defeat.

Now looking to turn that grain of positivity into an actual win, De Zerbi will be happy to see his squad strengthened by the availability of Pedro Porro, Sandi Tonali and James Maddison, all of whom have been battling respective fitness problems.

“Porro, Tonali, and Maddison are all available to play,” De Zerbi said in his pre-match press conference on Friday.

“Normally, we have to understand the situation in terms of physical condition, but all of them are ready.”

Tonali and Porro were both absent from the clash at Anfield, with the £100m Italian recovering from an unspecified knock and Porro dealing with a muscular issue, while Maddison is yet to have started a match since sustaining a shoulder injury on the opening day at Brentford.

Maddison has not played a full 90 minutes of action since the end of the 2024/25 season, with an ACL tear ruling him out for the majority of last term, but De Zerbi has hailed the Englishman’s work ethic in a bid to get back to full fitness.

De Zerbi added: “Listen, James is working with the team the last 10, 15 days, maybe less than 15 days. And even if he is a technical player, he needs to be fit, to stay in a good condition.

“When he arrives to the best condition, it’s very important for us as a personality, as a characteristic, as a quality, as an experience. The quality of his passes are different than the others.”

De Zerbi also spoke on Dejan Kulusevski, who hasn’t played for Tottenham since before their Europa League final triumph of 16 months ago, after the Swede was pictured training to some degree.

"We have to manage him in the best way possible alongside our medical staff. It is great news for us obviously because he is a great player and a good guy. He deserves to play again and the international break will be important for him,” he said.

"He will be like another new signing for us when he is back to his usual physical condition. He doesn't need my encouragement to keep working because he is strong-minded and a great character. He is an example for everyone."

Tottenham Hotspur have received a further £120m in capital from the Lewis family, it is understood.

The latest funds bring the total invested by the family over the past 12 months to around £320m, following a £100m injection earlier this summer. The family run Spurs’ majority owner, Enic.

Their influence over key decisions at the club has expanded since Daniel Levy stepped down as executive chairman last September.

The investment made during the summer increased the Lewis family’s shareholding in Tottenham to roughly 88 per cent.

Levy was offered the opportunity to contribute proportionally to prevent dilution, but declined to meet the deadline, reducing his stake from 29.88 per cent to about 27 per cent.

It is not yet known whether Levy will be involved in this latest move, which could dilute his holding further to approximately 25 per cent.

The capital injection comes after Tottenham spent over £300m during the summer transfer window, as they broke their transfer record twice.

Spurs spent £85m to sign Mateus Fernandes from West Ham before paying £100m to entice Sandro Tonali away from Newcastle.

Tottenham also signed Manchester City duo Savio and Omar Marmoush, with the latter joining on an initial loan deal, while spending over £50m on defender Jan Paul van Hecke.

The north London outfit also brought in defensive trio Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Tosin Adarabioyo, plus sealed deals for goalkeeper Martin Dubravka and Mykhailo Mudryk.

However, it has not led to a change in fortunes so far after consecutive 17th-placed finishes in the Premier League in the last two seasons.

Tottenham are yet to score a goal in the Premier League in their opening four matches, having been held to goalless draws by Nottingham Forest and Everton after previous losses to Brentford and Newcastle.

They were then knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Liverpool on Tuesday night after suffering a 3-1 defeat at Anfield.

Goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo opened up a two-goal advantage for the hosts before Conor Gallagher halved the deficit.

A stoppage-time stunner from Dominik Szoboszlai sealed the victory for Liverpool, with Tottenham set to return to action on Saturday when they host Aston Villa.