Of current Premier League clubs, only Southampton and Swansea (two sides who have gone dramatically backwards and made serious errors of judgement in recent years) have a lower net spend in the past half-decade.
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“So I think when you go to these big moments with these big decisions, semi-finals, finals, I don’t think it’s an advantage”.
United, who are now occupying the second position of the Premier League table with 74 points from 34 games, are comfortably on course to secure a Champions League place for next season.
For both sides, the pressure is on to secure some silverware in a campaign that has seen Manchester City breeze to the championship.
On that basis, and Mourinho’s Cup record, I’m going to plump for United Draw No Bet in 90 minutes at 6/4.
“Whatever way you look at it though, Tottenham are the home team”. The combination of these two figures, the points total and the net spend, underlines the point: Pochettino, the board and the players have been responsible for an incredible over-achievement.
It will be United’s 29th appearance in an FA Cup semifinal, which they last won in 2016.
But United have a proud tradition in the competition, with 12 wins in their history, just one behind Arsenal. Incredible. It’s a day I’ll never forget and certainly Jesse won’t forget it!
Mauricio Pochettino’s men beat United 2-0 earlier in the season but dropped three points in the reverse fixture with the Spurs failing to back his claims that Manchester United were wrong to appoint Jose Mourinho as manager.
It’s not been easy. Both sides will really want to win the match and have a chance to get their hands on this last chance for some silverware this season.
Despite playing at Spurs home, United boss Jose Mourinho does not see it as a disadvantage to his side. It’s not an event just for us.
The victor will face either Chelsea or Southampton, who play on Sunday, in the final. Since that year in Wembley and their eighth victory in the FA Cup, Spurs have virtually disappeared as a winning force.
A United win is available at 27/11 odds at Unibet, and a draw in normal-time could get you 12/5 odds. They came close last season having lost at the same stage to Chelsea but this time ahead of moving in to the new stadium, there is no better way to embrace the what lies ahead for Spurs, by collecting a trophy for all their efforts that have enabled the transition.
“Now we are there but I think for me the most important thing is that we are there with a completely different way, or different tools of course, to teams like City or Manchester United”, he said.
SPURS are likely to finish the current season in the top four for the third consecutive year and, impressively, they have only finished outside the top five once since 2009.
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You can read the full interview with Scott in the match programme for Saturday’s semi-final with Spurs, along with exclusives features with Juan Mata, Ander Herrera and Chris Smalling.
