Manchester United look to make it back-to-back victories Saturday to begin their second full Premier League season under manager Erik ten Hag when they visit a Tottenham Hotspur side still adjusting to life after Harry Kane.
United (1-0-0, 3 points) earned a cagey 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in Monday’s season opener at home.
Raphael Varane headed home Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cross in the 76th minute, and the hosts survived a late penalty video review after goalkeeper Andre Onana crashed into the Wolves’ Sasa Kalajdzic.
But it’s away from home where ten Hag needs his side to make the biggest improvement in Year 2 after sealing third place and a return to the UEFA Champions League in his first full season.
United won only eight of their 18 away league fixtures in Year 1. They earned only one away victory against teams that finished in the top half, and their only draw came against Tottenham in late April.
“It is often to do with personality,” ten Haag said of earning away results. “So yeah, that’s the demand for me (of) the players, that we have to show more personality on the pitch to win these games and to gather more points in away games.”
It will feel like a decidedly different Tottenham side without Kane, whose transfer to Bayern Munich was sealed a day before their 2-2 season-opening draw with Brentford last Sunday.
At 30 and facing another season outside the Champions League, many Spurs fans are understanding when it comes to their all-time goal scoring leader’s departure.
Spurs (0-1-0, 1 point) have made some intriguing additions that could pick up the attacking slack, signing attacking midfielder James Maddison from relegated Leicester City and Manor Solomon on a free transfer after his contract expired at Fulham.
Cristian Romero and Emerson Royal scored Tottenham’s goals at Brentford in a match where all the scoring came before halftime. Romero departed with an early injury, and Spurs saw a one-goal lead turn into a one-goal deficit before leveling in first-half stoppage time.
“I guess the most positive thing to take out of the first game for us was that we had a lot of things for us sort of go wrong in that first 45 minutes that aren’t sort of part of your planning,” first-year Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou said. “With all those things in that context, you kind of go, ‘Geez, it could’ve gone south really quickly.’ But I really liked the way the players reacted to it.”
–Field Level Media
