Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Team news for the visit of Tottenham

Friday 02 October 2020 10:00

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has provided a positive update on the squad ahead of Sunday's Premier League showdown with Tottenham Hotspur.

The boss knows another victory, a fourth in succession in all competitions, would provide the perfect tonic going into the latest international break as the Reds tackle respected opponents, who were rivals for a top-four place last term.

With so many permutations open to Ole, he will be assessing which XI he feels is best placed to obtain the three points at Old Trafford, in the 16:30 BST kick-off. However, Andreas Pereira is not an option as he is tying up a loan move to Lazio.

Ole suggested in his pre-match press conference that skipper Harry Maguire will be fit after a minor knock kept him out of the Carabao Cup victory at Brighton & Hove Albion.

"Harry’s one of the top strikers in the world and you’re just happy that he’s back fit after the injury he had last year. We’ll do our best to keep him quiet," said the boss. "We have a Harry back there who is looking forward to that battle. Harry had a knock after the league the game, but he should be okay."

Eric Bailly was excellent in the 3-0 win at the Amex Stadium alongside Victor Lindelof and it will be interesting to see if Ole opts for two or three central defenders for the fixture.

Axel Tuanzebe and Phil Jones have been unavailable due to injury but several players performed well on Wednesday and will be pushing for inclusion in the squad. Juan Mata was Man of the Match, while Donny van de Beek provided another reminder of his qualities. Paul Pogba also came off the bench and not only scored but looked more like his usual self.

When we asked the manager in our exclusive interview about the squad situation, he replied: "It's good. No more injuries. It was a good exercise down at Brighton, it’s been a good week. Let’s make sure we get into the international break with a good result.

“[There were] many good performances [at Brighton] and that’s where we want to get to and need to get to, so there are players fighting for every position on the pitch. I think that drives people on and makes them improve and, to be part of Man United, you should be able to have competition and know that you have to perform. So I was very happy with what the lads did.”

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NEWS FROM THE SPURS CAMP

Jose Mourinho's men have been buoyed by two successes in midweek - knocking his former club Chelsea out of the Carabao Cup on penalties after a 1-1 draw and then trouncing Maccabi Haifa 7-2 to reach the Europa League group stage.

After initially appearing to rule Son Heung-min out of Sunday's clash, the Spurs boss has since suggested the South Korean star has an outside chance of being fit after all, but new signing Gareth Bale has only recently started training and, after being left out of the Wales squad for the upcoming internationals, it would appear he will not make his second debut for the club at Old Trafford.

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Giovani Lo Celso is a doubt after picking up a problem on Thursday, while Dele Alli came off the bench to score a penalty after only having limited game-time of late.

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