England EFL Cup: Tottenham vs Man Utd Preview And Prediction
Tottenham and Manchester United head into Thursday’s EFL Cup quarter-final meeting after statement victories last weekend.
Ruben Amorim got one over fierce rivals Manchester City at the first time of asking, snatching a late 2-1 victory on Sunday. United had trailed to Josko Gvardiol’s header, before Amad Diallo won a penalty for Bruno Fernandes to score, and then scored a last-gasp winner.
With Amorim now in charge, a feat could be on offer. Only three Premier League teams have progressed from three consecutive rounds in a season under a different manager – Sunderland in 2013-14 (Paolo Di Canio, Kevin Ball and Gus Poyet), Southampton in 2022-23 (Ralph Hasenhüttl, Ruben Sellés and Nathan Jones) and Wolves in 2022-23 (Bruno Lage, Steve Davis and Julen Lopetegui).
Spurs also thrashed Southampton 5-0 in their last outing, with all those goals coming in the first half at St. Mary’s. James Maddison scored twice, with Son Heung-min, Dejan Kulusevski and Pape Sarr also on target for Ange Postecoglou’s side.
That somewhat eased the mounting pressure on Postecoglou, whose side had gone winless in five games across all competitions before the Southampton thumping.
The next challenge for Postecoglou will be edging Tottenham further towards silverware in the EFL Cup. Tottenham has progressed from each of their last four quarter-final ties. Their last defeat came in a 2-1 loss against West Ham in the 2013-14 campaign.
Spurs have their cup star, too, with Kulusevski matching Garnacho’s three assists in this season’s competition. He may be forced to feature here, considering Tottenham’s injury woes.
Son was removed at half-time against Southampton due to a knock and will be assessed before this clash. Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Rodrigo Bentancur, Richarlison and first-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario are among the other headline absentees.
Amorim has few such concerns on the injury front. Mason Mount and Luke Shaw will be out for this fixture, while Noussair Mazraoui’s knock against Man City is still being assessed.
Tottenham vs Man Utd Head-to-Head
Tottenham will fancy their chances here given they have gone unbeaten in their last four meetings with United, drawing two and winning two in the Premier League.
Postecoglou’s side humiliated United with a 3-0 win at Old Trafford this season, though they have not won consecutive games against them since April 1990 (three in a row).
The pair have split wins evenly across six EFL Cup ties, though United have triumphed in each of their last two such meetings. Those successes came over a decade ago, however, winning the 2009 final on penalties along with a 2-0 victory in the 2009-10 quarter-final.
PREDICTION: OVER 2.5 @1.42
Arsenal FC vs Crystal Palace: HOME WIN @1.40
Newcastle United vs Brentford FC: 1 DNB @1.21
Southampton FC vs Liverpool FC: OVER 2.5 @1.38
