Saturday 28 October 2017 10:54, UK
Harry Kane will not be available for Tottenham when they travel to Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday, live on Sky Sports.
The league's top scorer has been ruled out with a hamstring strain and although the injury is said to be minor, manager Mauricio Pochettino confirmed the striker would not be risked for tomorrow's game.
Spurs will be looking to bounce back from their 3-2 loss to West Ham in the Carabao Cup in midweek, but they will come up against a United side who have won their last five Premier League games at Old Trafford, keeping a clean sheet in each win.
Jose Mourinho's side suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season against Huddersfield last weekend, and slipped five points behind league leaders, Manchester City.
United and Tottenham are currently level on 20 points in second and third place respectively in the table, although this weekend's hosts have a better goal difference.
Alongside Kane, Victor Wanyama (knee) is the only other absentee for Tottenham, with the remainder of the squad available for selection and Fernando Llorente set to start up front.
Eric Bailly and Phil Jones could return for Manchester United. Bailly has been injured since the international break but Mourinho is hopeful the centre-back will return at Old Trafford, with Jones also set to be involved.
Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini and Paul Pogba remain out through injury, as do Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcos Rojo.
Tottenham have lost 20 of their 25 Premier League away trips to Old Trafford (W2 D3) - their biggest tally of defeats away at any club in the competition.
Manchester United last recorded six consecutive home league wins without conceding in March 2010 (run of seven).
Pochettino has lost more Premier League matches against Mourinho (four) than he has versus any other manager in the competition.
Kane has scored 29 goals in 26 Premier League appearances in 2017 - just seven off the all-time Premier League record in a calendar year, set by Alan Shearer in 1995 (36 goals).
Romelu Lukaku has scored just 15 goals in 58 Premier League appearances against the 'big six' clubs - averaging a goal every 289 minutes.
It's no surprise but the West Ham defeat proved it, Tottenham are a different team without Harry Kane. They really need his hamstring to be OK this weekend.
Spurs were lackadaisical and a little arrogant on Wednesday but if Kane plays on Saturday I don't think they will lose the game.
I watched Manchester United at Huddersfield and they were poor. That was after they went to Liverpool and just shut up shop - those results have left them behind the eight ball. They are five points behind Man City and have a difficult match coming up.
United need to take the game to Tottenham and I'm not sure they can do that. Spurs would probably take a draw but their away record has been phenomenal recently.
And if Mauricio Pochettino's team really have aspirations of winning the title themselves, this is a fixture they need to win. The way Man City are playing at the moment, winning at United gives you every chance of challenging.
Paul predicts: 1-1 (Sky Bet odds 5/1)
It's 23/10 to end all square. United are 11/4 for another win to nil at Old Trafford while it's no surprise to see which two names head the first goalscorer betting: Lukaku is 100/30, with Kane close behind at 7/2.
Manchester United v Tottenham is this weekend's Fantasy Six-a-Side fixture, with the usual £5,000 up for grabs for the highest scoring team. Pick your team for free here.
