By Lev
September 8 2006

After an impressive start to the season, Manchester United will look to continue where they left off before the International break. After an impressive start to the season, Manchester United will look to continue where they left off before the International break. Their demolition of Fulham at home on the opening day of the season, and convincing away wins over Charlton and Watford, have taken them to the top of the table. Sir Alex Ferguson will see no reason why this 100% record cannot be maintained, against a Tottenham side who have only managed one win in three and have not won at the Theatre of Dreams since 1989.

However, it is not all doom and gloom for Spurs, with the Red Devils unable to call upon Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes, who sit out their last games of the three-match bans they picked up in the pre-season Amsterdam Tournament. United may not be too disappointed about this, though, with Louis Saha, Christiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs all starting the season in scintillating form. They also have the options of calling upon midfielders Michael Carrick, a summer signing from their latest opponents’ camp, and Darren Fletcher, who has two goals in three games for club and country. As well as this, fans all over the land will be pleased to here that Alan Smith has made himself available for selection after recovering from the horrific injuries he picked up in last term’s FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool.

Tottenham find themselves in desperate need for a win, with only three points from a possible nine so far, and a victory of this stature would give the whole club a lift. Spurs will take heart from last year’s performance at Old Trafford, a 1-1 draw, and hope they can achieve the same, or an even better result, this time around. Their magnificent away support will be as vocal as ever and hope to have something to cheer about before their first European tie in seven years, on Thursday in Prague.

It looks likely that Spurs will hand a debut to Pascal Chimbonda at right back, with Young-Pyo Lee dropping out of the starting eleven and maybe even the squad of sixteen altogether. With Dimitar Berbatov seemingly out with a knock he picked up playing for Bulgaria, Martin Jol will most probably give Mido his first game since he was awarded a permanent contract with the club. However, the Lilywhites third late summer signing, Steed Malbranque, has just undergone an operation on a groin injury and is set to be out for two months. A major boost for Tottenham is the news that Ledley King looks set to make his first appearance of the season, after speedily recovering from surgery of his own.

Taking last season’s Spurs performances against the top-four into account, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that they could play very well and come away with something from Old Trafford. However, let’s hope this isn’t only their pride and a few kind words from Sir Alex; it’s about time Spurs won against one of the big boys. However, all Spurs’ fans know this is going to be a hard task and the most I can see Tottenham coming away with is a point. A prediction of 1-1 is my forecast, a repeat of last year’s exciting draw.