Daniel McCulloch (@DMcCulloch1984) takes a look at Super Sunday's showdown between Tottenham and Manchester United at Wembley.
Tottenham v Manchester United | Sunday 13th January 2019, 16:30 | Sky Sports
Backing Tottenham at a shade above eens seems like a fairly obvious call; For the vast majority of this season there has been a clear gulf in the performance levels between the two sides and the North London outfit have won this fixture on the last three occasions.
However, while it is a small sample size and new manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has enjoyed a favourable fixture list at the start of his reign as caretaker, I am not willing to dismiss their four league wins in a row lightly.
United have won two home and two away matches under the Norwegian and while Cardiff, Bournemouth, Huddersfield and Newcastle may seem like an easy start, does anyone really believe that they would have won all four games under Jose Mourinho?
Moreover, from a punting perspective, presuming they were 1/4 for both home games and 1/2 for both away matches, it was a 5/2 shot for them to win all four (or a 29% chance). United won each game by more than a goal.
Comparatively, even if you ignore his horrendous record against fellow members of the Big Six, Jose Mourinho won just two of his 12 games this season against the rest of the league by more than a single goal.
Tottenham may well win this game – and I certainly struggle to make a case for United – but I would rather ignore the outright market and focus on the goalscorer options.
Heung-Min Son is leaving Tottenham for the Asia Cup after this game and at 37/20 I think he is excellent value to crown his farewell with a goal. He has scored eight times in 16 league games this season and has netted in five of his last seven top-flight matches.
He is no flat-track bully either, as two goals at Everton, a goal against Chelsea and a League Cup goal at The Emirates against Arsenal testify.
From United’s end, I think Marcus Rashford is value at 23/10 with Marathon to find the net. He has five in his last eight matches and I found it fascinating to hear Solskjaer talk so kindly of him in the build up to this game.
Across his career, this may not look like a value shout but neither Louis Van Gaal or Mourinho played with much attacking intent. It’s early days but he is certainly looking more potent since the Portuguese left his post and I believe anything north of 2/1 is worth taking.
Best Bets
Tottenham v Manchester United – Heung-Min Son to score at anytime (37/20 888)
Tottenham v Manchester United – Marcus Rashford to score at anytime (23/10 Marathon)
