Tottenham are set to be handed a huge injury boost as the club return to Premier League action against Manchester United.
Spurs’ hopes of ending their 17-year trophy hoodoo suffered a double blow last week following two cup exits in the space of four days.
Ange Postecoglou’s side were dumped out of the FA Cup by Aston Villa on Sunday following a 2-1 defeat – their sixth loss of 2025 from 11 matches.
That ensured the north Londoners have no chance of reaching Wembley this season, having bowed out of the Carabao Cup semi-finals to Liverpool days prior.
Tottenham’s incredible injury crisis has compounded the club’s misery, but light is thought to be at the end of the tunnel.
A rare highlight from the season was the reverse fixture at the end of September, where Spurs ran out 3-0 winners at Old Trafford.
Another victory this weekend would at least see Postecoglou’s men leapfrog the Red Devils in the bottom half of the table.
Tottenham team news
11 players were missing from the defeat to Villa last weekend, but there is hope at least three stars will be back in contention here.
Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario has been out injured since fracturing his ankle in the 4-0 win against Manchester City on November 23.
In the 12 Premier League matches Vicario has missed, Spurs have lost on eight occasions – conceding 24 goals – resulting in them slipping down into 14th spot.
Czech Antonin Kinsky has been deputising in his absence following his arrival in a £12.5million deal at the start of last month.
However, following a clean sheet on his debut, the 21-year-old has started to struggle, with high-profile errors in both cup exits.
Vicario, Destiny Udogie, and James Maddison are all thought to be pushing to be in contention for the visit of Ruben Amorim‘s team.
Udogie’s return could see Djed Spence revert to the right to give Pedro Porro a rare breather, with the Spaniard having tacked up over 2900 minutes already across all competitions.
Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner and Wilson Odobert are also pushing to rejoin training, but the latter pair are not expected to start here.
Dominic Solanke is not thought to be far behind with his recovery from a knee injury but will be absent alongside Richarlison.
Captain Son Heung-min is likely to lead the line, with Bayern Munich loanee Mathys Tel also making his league debut for the club.
Archie Gray may still be required in an unorthodox centre-back role alongside new signing Kevin Danso, with Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven not rushed back into action and Radu Dragusin a long-term absentee.
- Tottenham are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games against Man Utd (W2 D2) and are looking to complete the league double over the Red Devils for the first time since 1989-90.
- Manchester United have conceded at least twice in each of their last four Premier League games against Spurs – the last side they conceded multiple goals against in 5+ consecutive league games was Arsenal (5 between 1975 and 1978).
- Tottenham have already beaten Manchester United twice in all competitions this season, 3-0 in the Premier League and 4-3 in the League Cup quarter-final. Not since 1989-90 have Spurs beaten Man Utd three times in a single campaign, while the last side overall to defeat the Red Devils three times in a season were Chelsea in 2012-13.
Manchester United team news
The visitors’ injury woes have cleared up in recent weeks but their inconsistent performances have left Amorim scratching his head.
Patrick Dorgu made his debut in the 2-1 FA Cup comeback win over Leicester and is expected to be handed his Premier League bow.
Luke Shaw recently suffered a fresh setback in training, with the other player deputising on the left under Amorim, Lisandro Martinez, facing an extended period out of action due to a serious knee injury.
Neither Mason Mount nor Jonny Evans are expected back, with Friday’s matchwinner Harry Maguire starting again at the back.
Alejandro Garnacho’s lively cameo as a substitute in that game will likely be enough for him to take up one of the No.10 positions.
Amad Diallo will claim the other vacant role behind Joshua Zirkzee following Ramus Hojlund’s continued struggles in attack.
- After their 2-0 win over Brentford, Tottenham are looking to win back-to-back Premier League games for just the second time this season, previously doing so in September – when their two wins were over Brentford and then Manchester United.
- Tottenham are winless in their last seven Premier League home games (D2 L5), their longest such run in the competition since going eight without a win from March to October 2008. Their five defeats in these last seven games are more than they suffered in their previous 17 at home in the league (W13 D0 L4).
- Since Ruben Amorim took charge in November, only five sides have picked up fewer points in the Premier League than Manchester United (14). Amorim is only the fourth manager to lose 7+ of his first 13 top-flight games in charge of the Red Devils, along with AH Albut (7), John Chapman (10), and Jimmy Murphy (7).
Tottenham vs Man United: How to follow
This Premier League game is set to take place on Sunday, February 16.
Kick-off at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is scheduled for 4:30pm.
Sky Sports will be broadcasting the action and details on how to watch on TV or online via Sky Go can be found here.
talkSPORT.com will also have updates throughout via our dedicated live Premier League blog.
To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream.
You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
- Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou is unbeaten in all three of his Premier League games against Manchester United – only three managers have ever remained unbeaten in each of their first four against the Red Devils (Ruud Gullit, Nuno Espírito Santo and Unai Emery).
- After his assist for Pape Sarr’s goal against Brentford, Son Heung-min became Tottenham’s outright leading assister in the Premier League (69), overtaking Darren Anderton (68). Son has seven assists in the competition this season, only recording more in a single campaign in 2019-20 (10), 2020-21 (10), and 2023-24 (10).
- No player has scored more goals (6) or provided more assists (6) for Manchester United in the Premier League this season than Amad Diallo. However, the Ivorian hasn’t scored or assisted in any of his last three league games, only attempting two shots over this time while creating 10 chances without any leading to a goal.
Tottenham vs Man United: What has been said?
Jamie O’Hara believes Postecoglou’s time at Spurs has run its course.
“It’s time to go now, Ange is out of his depth. [Unai] Emery is on a different planet compared to him and his players bopped us off the park. Should have been five, we’re like reserve team playing in academy games that don’t matter, it’s crazy,” O’Hara wrote on X.
Meanwhile, Postecoglou has declared an agenda against him following the reaction to the club’s FA Cup exit.
Pressed on whether he would get given time to turn things around, Postecoglou remarked: “I’m not talking about me.
“People can judge me, they can say I’ve done a bad job, I’m not up to it or whatever, that’s fine.
“What I’m saying is you can’t be critical of players and players’ performance during this time.
“If you do, then do that with everyone else when they’ve got nine or ten or 11 players out – none of them have – and for every game.
“I’m not just saying we had to do it today. We’ve been doing this since the middle of November.
“You can’t judge the performance of these players or critique them on what they’ve done. All they’ve done is give all they can and that’s all you can ask for.
“My responsibility at this club is this group of players and team to get them to play in the manner I want them to that will bring us success.
“Whether people think I can do that or not is for others to judge but there’s got to be a better appreciation for what a very small group of players have been doing for the last two and a half months.
“It can’t be that people think that is an excuse. That’s just not anywhere near close to objective analysis. That’s just agenda-driven stuff.
“If it’s to get rid of me that’s fine, good on you, go for it a million times.
“But in terms of this group of players, what they’ve given over the last two and a half months has been outstanding.
“It’s a credit to them, I can’t speak highly enough of them.”