Man Utd vs Spurs preview: bottom side, no excuses left

Twelfth against twentieth. Man Utd vs Spurs at Old Trafford tomorrow, 5.30pm kick-off, live on Sky, and it's United on five points from five against Spurs on two. Spurs haven't won a league game. Their last one before the break was a 3-2 home defeat to Aston Villa, and Roberto De Zerbi is already under pressure.

Three weeks without a game. Now there's nowhere to hide.

United team news

Most of this is reported rather than confirmed. Carrick's press conference is later today and he'll fill in the gaps. Here's where it stands this morning.

Read more: Leeds vs Man Utd preview: team news and prediction

Benjamin Šeško is the big one. He pulled out of the Slovenia squad with the shin problem that kept him out at Fulham, and the club said he'd "undergo tests this week before defining his individual recovery plan." That was 21 September. Eighteen days on, there's still no return date, and The Sun reports there's "less hope" for him than for the others. Assume he's out. Which means, again, no recognised centre-forward fit for a home game we have to win.

Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo both withdrew from England duty after picking up knocks at Fulham. The Sun says both are likely to be available.

Patrick Dorgu was forced off after about half an hour for Denmark against Wales holding his hamstring. Noussair Mazraoui came back from Morocco with a problem. Both need assessing, per Football365 and The Sun. Lose both and we're short at full-back before a ball's kicked.

Carlos Baleba could finally make his debut, six weeks after a £65m move. Matthijs de Ligt is working his way back but hasn't played a competitive game since November 2025. Amad hasn't played this season with his ankle, and the reports disagree on whether he's trained. Manuel Ugarte and Tom Heaton are out.

Spurs team news

They're in a worse state than us at the back, which tells you how bad their start has been. Pedro Porro is out with a hamstring injury, and Micky van de Ven (finger) and Jan Paul van Hecke (foot) both face late fitness tests. Van Hecke hurt his foot playing for the Netherlands and had started six of their first seven games. Xavi Simons, Mykhailo Mudryk and Wilson Odobert are all still out.

If both centre-halves miss it, Spurs could be playing Senesi and Adarabioyo with Archie Gray at right-back. That's a back four we should be ripping apart.

The match-up that matters: our shots against their stand-ins

We've had 113 league shots, more than anyone. Sky had our xG at 10.24 after five games, third-best in the league. We've scored eight. Five of those came in one afternoon against Ipswich.

So the chances are there. The finishing isn't, and without Šeško it's going to be Mbeumo, Cunha or Zirkzee through the middle against a patched-up Spurs defence. That's the game. If we're clinical, this should be over by half-time. If we do what we did at Fulham, where we had 29 shots and needed Cunha in the 89th minute to draw, Spurs will hang around.

And the other half of it, which I went through on Monday: we've been fading after the hour all season. Spurs have lost three of five, but they'll run. If we're still walking in the 70th minute, they'll get a chance. They always do.

Prediction

Carrick has had three weeks on the training ground and, if The Sun is right, gets Rashford, Mainoo and finally Baleba back. Spurs are bottom, beaten at home by Villa last time out and missing their best defenders. There is no excuse left in this fixture. None.

Man Utd 2-0 Spurs. Anything less than a win at home to the bottom side, after a fortnight to fix things, and the questions about Carrick stop being about patience. And if £120m of midfield is still on the bench at kick-off, that's a question too.