(Football news) Victory for the Lilywhites would enable them to leapfrog their equally lowly opponents in the bottom half of the Premier League table, although neither can consider themselves to be completely clear of the relegation picture just yet.
Flash back to just after September’s North London derby to Arsenal, where a bullish Ange Postecoglou remarked that he “always” wins trophies in his second year in a job, a bold claim which his managerial history does indeed back up.
However, in the space of just four days earlier this month, the Australian’s bid to fulfil that prophecy suffered two devastating blows, as an EFL Cup semi-final collapse at the hands of Liverpool preceded another premature FA Cup exit, this time in the fourth round to Aston Villa.
A first slice of silverware since 2008 could still arrive in the form of the Europa League, though, and before their double dose of knockout heartache, Tottenham finally pulled themselves out of a Premier League rut away to London rivals Brentford.
Sinking the Bees at the Gtech Community Stadium snapped Tottenham’s abysmal four-game losing run and seven-game winless sequence in the top flight, where the goal now is to end an equally embarrassing run of form at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Indeed, Postecoglou’s meek men have now gone over three months without winning a Premier League home game, drawing two and losing five of their last seven top-flight games in front of their own fans, despite finding the back of the net in all of them.
Only Everton have failed to score away from home against Tottenham in the 2024-25 Premier League season, but Postecoglou is yet to suffer the agony of defeat to Manchester United in the competition and could now become just the fourth manager – after Unai Emery, Ruud Gullit and Nuno Espirito Santo – to go unbeaten in his first four Premier League matches against the Red Devils.
Similarly to Sunday’s hosts, Manchester United also made the net bulge in added time of their FA Cup fourth-round tie, but while Mathys Tel’s effort for Tottenham was an uncontroversial consolation, Harry Maguire’s for the Red Devils was a highly contentious clincher.
The former Leicester centre-back rose highest to nod home a free kick and propel Amorim’s men to an extremely hard-fought 2-1 win, but had VAR been in operation for the fourth-round tie, his goal would have undoubtedly been ruled out for the clear offside offence missed by the linesman.
As Ruud van Nistelrooy raged about ‘offside time’ as opposed to the age-old ‘Fergie time’, the overjoyed Manchester United faithful revelled in their side’s sixth victory from their last eight matches across all tournaments, a marked improvement for the former perennial champions as they also chase Europa League glory in the spring.
However, the 20-time English champions were yet again found wanting in their 2-0 top-flight home loss to Crystal Palace on February 2 – their seventh defeat from their last 11 Premier League matches – and Spurs have had their number twice this season already.
Before December’s captivating 4-3 EFL Cup quarter-final triumph, Postecoglou’s Tottenham were too hot for Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United to handle in a 3-0 Old Trafford trouncing, meaning that they could now do the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League for the very first time.
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