Former Manchester United and Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov has made a bold prediction for the Red Devils’ Premier League showdown with Spurs on Sunday.
United’s last Premier League outing of 2023 ended in a shock 2-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest at City Ground, with Erik ten Hag’s men left in eighth place in the league table.
The Red Devils bounced back from the defeat against Forest and secured their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup with a convincing 2-0 win over Wigan on Monday.
But United manager Ten Hag will be hopeful that the Red Devils can build momentum off the back of their third-round FA Cup win when they host Tottenham at Old Trafford.
United have suffered nine league defeats this season and are nine points outside of the Premier League top four in the race for Champions League qualification.
Tottenham, on the other hand, are in fifth place in the league table and are only one point behind London rivals Arsenal and third-place Manchester City.
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Berbatov’s prediction for United vs Tottenham
Berbatov played for Spurs after he was signed from Bayer Leverkusen in 2006 and the former United striker caught the eye of legendary former manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
Ferguson landed the 42-year-old former Bulgaria international in a £30.75m deal in 2008, with Berbatov spending four seasons at Old Trafford before his exit in 2012.
Despite having allegiances to both United and Spurs, Berbatov believes that the forthcoming Premier League match will be “tight” and predicts the Red Devils will win 1-0.
“I can see this being a tight game and I’m going to say it will be 1-0 to United,” he told the Metro.
“It sounds boring, but I hope that’s not the case. I think there’s a lot at stake for both teams.
“That can sometimes play with your mind and make you not produce your best game possible.”
Ten Hag ahead of United vs Tottenham
Ten Hag revealed at his pre-match press conference on Friday that Lisandro Martinez, Casemiro and Luke Shaw had all returned to training ahead of the Spurs clash.
The United boss also wished Jadon Sancho the best of luck after the Red Devils outcast sealed a loan move to German side Borussia Dortmund this week.
Ten Hag also shared his thoughts on Antony’s struggles at United this season and believed that the player’s “off-field issues” in 2023 had an impact on the ex-Ajax star.
Speaking on the challenge awaiting him against Spurs, he said (via the Manchester Evening News): “Definitely different, so I think they complement the way they played, he changed the environment there, they’re really proactive, very enjoyable to watch them with a lot of dynamics, very proactive, they combine it with good results but also when we played them over there and I think that’s what we can take belief out of that.
“In the first 35 minutes, we dominated them, we should have gone in the lead, but we didn’t, so we have to make our own luck and take control of the game and finish the chances.”
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