Tottenham Hotspur host Manchester United in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals this evening.
Ange Postecoglou boldly declared he always wins silverware in his second season earlier in the campaign and Spurs can take another step towards a trophy this evening. The North London side have not won silverware since last lifting this competition in 2008.
Postecoglou will hope a morale-lifting win at Southampton last weekend can ignite his side’s fortunes. Spurs opened the scoring inside 37 seconds at St Mary’s and led 5-0 at half-time on the south coast. The result ended a five-game winless run, with Spurs having struggled for consistency so far this season.Postecoglou has confirmed that neither Cristian Romero or Micky van de Ven are expected to return before the new year. The defensive duo both suffered setbacks on their returns from injury against Chelsea earlier this month.
Archie Gray has deputised at centre-back impressively of late and should start, though Ben Davies is nearing his return. The latter, Mikey Moore and Richarlison are all in contention for the upcoming schedule in news that will ease the injury concerns in North London.
Djed Spence impressed in the win at Southampton as the full-back made his first competitive start for Spurs, two-and-a-half years after joining the club. He could move to left-back with Destiny Udogie unlikely to start after being withdrawn at the weekend.Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim could welcome back Alejandro Garnacho for tonight’s Carabao Cup quarter-final clash against Tottenham.
But Marcus Rashford has reportedly been left out of the squad that has travelled to London.
Amorim dropped both forwards for Sunday’s 2-1 win over Manchester City and while he did not say the decision was down to discipline, he appeared to warn the pair over “standards.”It’s not a disciplinary thing,” he said. “Next week it’s a new week, new life. It’s how you dress, how you eat and how you interact with your team mates.
“When people in the club are losing their jobs, we have to push our standards incredibly high.”
Rashford later confirmed was open to leaving the club, albeit Amorim stressed United were a better team with the England forward in it.
Mason Mount is out for United, while Luke Shaw is expected to miss out due to injury. Jonny Evans could return to the squad following a recent absence.