Manchester United take on Tottenham Hotspur this evening looking to advance to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.
The Red Devils have played Spurs 202 times, winning 96 and losing 55.
Matches have ended in a draw on 51 occasions, but tonight’s game will be settled on penalties if it were to be all square after 90 minutes.
Here are three things to whet the appetite before the tie of the round.
Bruno Fernandes’ revenge
The Portuguese captain started the season poorly and when the two teams clashed at the end of September, disaster struck.
United had played badly and were 1-0 down at Old Trafford within the first five minutes and things went from bad to worse as Fernandes was sent off with a straight red card, just before half-time.
Fans were outraged though as the captain had slipped and clearly did not intend to make the contact he did. The red was eventually overturned after an appeal from the club.
Not that it helped the Reds on the day though, as they ended up being well-beaten 3-0 by Ange Postecoglou’s side, in what was one of the final nails in Erik ten Hag’s coffin.
Since, Fernandes has been in much better form and scored at the weekend in the crucial away day victory over Manchester City. He will certainly be gunning to get revenge against Spurs tonight.
Keep the League Cup goals flowing
United have been scoring a bit more frequently under Ruben Amorim, but they still only have 21 goals in 16 Premier League matches.
Whilst the league has been a struggle at times, United have so far found refuge in the cups.
In just two matches in the Carabao, the Red Devils have smashed Barnsley 7-0 and Leicester 5-2.
They have had 34 shots on goal and 22 have been on target according to the BBC.
While most fans would be delighted with any sort of victory tonight against strong opposition, it will be interesting to see if their goal revival can continue.
United looking to end rare bad run versus Spurs
Historically, United have always done well against Tottenham, especially in the Premier League era.
Between 2001 and 2012, the Red Devils did not lose a game to the North Londoners.
They also won four on the trot against tonight’s opposition in 2021 and 2022.
However, this has not been the case recently as they have not won in their last four games against The Lilywhites.
In fact, United have lost two out of the three matches they have played against Postecoglou since he was made Spurs manager and drew the other 2-2. Amorim will be hoping he has more luck against the Australian than Ten Hag ever had.
Feature image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
