Tottenham v Man Utd: Sanchez can strike on return to north London

Tottenham v Man Utd
Wednesday, 20:00 GMT
Live on BT Sport 1

Spurs looking to step up top four bid

The last time Spurs scored three straight home league wins over Manchester United, England had just lifted the World Cup. A full 52 years on, they have the chance to match that after the 2-1 win last season and 3-0 success in April, 2016.

Spurs are very much in the hunt for a top four finish but certainly need to up it in the big matches having taken just three points from their five games against other members of the 'Big Six' this season.

That equates to a Wembley thumping of Liverpool, a home loss to Chelsea and away defeats to Man City, Arsenal and Wednesday night's opponents Man United.

Tottenham are on an eight-match unbeaten run heading into this one but they've had to rely on Harry Kane equalisers in their last two matches - 1-1s at Southampton and League Two Newport.

Man Utd churning out the wins

For a team that's won 69% of its fixtures this season and sit second in the Premier League, Man Utd still get their fair share of stick.

At least the negativity has died down in recent times after a run of five straight wins, all achieved with clean sheets.

Jose Mourinho has rightly received plenty of criticism for his negativity in big away games but he went for it at Arsenal and was rewarded with a 3-1 victory - although it helped having the Premier League's best goalkeeper between the sticks.

While Spurs huffed and puffed away to Newport in the FA Cup last weekend, United cruised to a 4-0 win at Yeovil.

That game saw the debut of new signing Alexis Sanchez and the Chilean is all set to make his Premier League bow in a red Man Utd shirt here.

Home advantage makes Spurs favourites

Location decides the favourite here so with Spurs having home Wembley advantage, they're the 2.36 favourites, with Man Utd over a full point bigger at 3.45. The Draw - none in the last six between this pair - is 3.40.

Of course, Wembley is plenty familiar to Jose Mourinho and United and he guided them to victory in both the Community Shield and League Cup final there last season. Before that, United had beaten Crystal Palace at Wembley in the 2016 FA Cup final.

Home advantage makes me lean towards Spurs but United have the better recent form so I start tilting back their way when considering the last few matches.

In short, any of the three results have validity so I'll look elsewhere for the best bets.

Overs the outsider

It's the third most prolific scorers in the top-flight (Man Utd) against the fourth most and yet Overs is the underdog here at 2.02.

Unders is 1.95 and the argument for that is obviously based on the Goals Against column with United having the joint-best defence in the Premier League (16 goals let in) and Spurs fifth tightest (22 conceded).

Head-to-heads show an even 5-5 split in the last 10 meetings although there are more goals when Tottenham host and Overs would have landed in three of the last four such showdowns.

Sanchez is Wembley wonder

With this fixture throwing up more goals when Spurs are at home, there's definite scope to play the scorer markets.

Harry Kane netted in Tottenham's 2-1 win over Man Utd last season and, here we are still in January, and he's taken his tally to a remarkable 30 for the season at club level with six in his last four games.

Kane is an odds-against price on Wednesday night. The 2.20 simply can't be ignored.

Alexis Sanchez absolutely loves playing at Wembley. Add in two goals for Chile in their 2-0 friendly win over England in 2013 and he's scored seven goals in just six games there.

Man Utd front players tend to shine early (think Martial, Ibrahimovic, Lukaku and Rashford) so Sanchez looks a good bet to bag one on his Premier League debut as a Red Devil.

He's already netted once against Spurs this season when in Arsenal colours and United's new No. 7 showed enough on his debut at Yeovil to suggest he'll be an instant hit.

The 3.25 for a Sanchez goal looks good business.

Jesse Lingard, who has an FA Cup final winner to his name at Wembley, could also be an option at 4.30.

Nine goals in his last 13 games in an excellent return and six of those have come on the road.

I have a theory that he's best backed for last goal when using his energy to run at tiring defences. It's borne out by the timings of those last nine goals: 89, 84, 81, 90, 53, 35, 63, 11, 86.

It's an attractive 10.50 that Lingard is Last Goalscorer.

Ref watch

Andre Marriner gets to play Wembley for the second time this season after previously being the man in charge for Tottenham's 4-1 thumping of Liverpool in October.

He's also taken charge of two Man Utd away matches - the 2-0 win at Everton and the 3-1 success at Arsenal in which he sent off Paul Pogba.

That's one of three red cards he's brandished this season. He's also shown 58 yellows in his 21 games.

Opta stat

Mauricio Pochettino is unbeaten in his last three Premier League home games against Jose Mourinho (W2 D1), winning 5-3 against Chelsea in January 2015, and in this exact fixture in May last season.

RECOMMENDED BETS

1.5pts Harry Kane to Score anytime at 2.20

1pt Alexis Sanchez to Score anytime at 3.25

0.5pts Jesse Lingard Last Goalscorer at 10.50