Ahead of the two sides clashing on Saturday, three Tottenham Hotspur stars were missing from training.
Manchester United are in good form, as Rúben Amorim’s men prepare to take on Tottenham Hotspur in their final Premier League game before the November international break.
After their 2-2 draw away to Nottingham Forest, United are now unbeaten in four after beating Sunderland 2-0, coming out 2-1 winners against Liverpool, and sweeping aside Brighton 4-2 at Old Trafford, before the aforementioned draw at the City Ground.
Tottenham Hotspur come into this game off the back of a disappointing performance against London rivals Chelsea, where they recorded a total xG of 0.05, their lowest on record since the 2012/13 Premier League season.
The two sides are currently level on points, sitting joint fifth on 17 points, alongside Sunderland and Chelsea.
Mohammed Kudus among three missing Spurs stars
Before they face Manchester United, Tottenham host Danish side Copenhagen in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Ahead of that clash, three key Tottenham players were missing from their training session this afternoon, one of whom has arguably been Tottenham’s best player so far this season.
As reported by football.london, there were several notable absences from Thomas Frank’s training session.
Lucas Bergvall was not seen training, suggesting he is undergoing concussion protocols following his early substitution against Chelsea. Djed Spence was also absent from training, with his last sighting being an awkward interaction with Frank, seemingly ignoring the Spurs boss after their 1-0 loss.
The most notable, and somewhat surprising, absence was Mohammed Kudus, who was missing despite the Ghanaian being set to join Frank in Monday’s conference ahead of the Champions League match.
Man Utd must capitalise on their lack of European football
Kudus has been Tottenham’s star player after signing from West Ham in the summer, and the reason for his absence from training is not yet known.
If their star is injured, there is no doubt that fixture congestion would have had a role to play, an issue that is becoming much more prevalent with the seemingly ever-increasing number of games being played every season.
United’s disastrous 2024/25 campaign means that they have no European football to contend with, and after embarrassingly exiting the Carabao Cup to Grimsby Town, United will only play once a week until January, when they will compete in the FA Cup.
In December, for example, Crystal Palace will have to play four games in just eight days, where they will play two Premier League fixtures, as well as two mid-week fixtures in the Europa League and the Carabao Cup.
With United’s focus this season split in two between the Premier League and the FA Cup, rather than three or four different competitions, if United can keep this momentum going and stay relatively injury-free, there’s no reason why they can’t qualify for Champions League football next season, something almost no one would have predicted after the end of last season.
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