Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United- live

Latest

SPURS 0 MAN UTD 0

14 min Defoe looks to have missed a sitter, tapping De Gea's poorly pushed-out shot (made very sure I used the correct vowel, there) meekly back to the keeper from five yards out. He was offside, it turns out.

11 min Parker playing with the pent-up frustration of a man that's only had New Star Soccer as a football experience for most of the last six months. He charges forward but an attempted poked pass towards Dempsey comes back to him off Ferdinand. He shoots, off balance, falls over, and it's high and wide.

9 min Spurs still bossing possession, and edging slowly up the pitch. Evra collides with Lennon as he tires of all the sideways passing and drives towards the byline. Free kick, crossed, not much good. Here's Ghalib Gee from Nairobi, who has chosen to take my question non-literally:

My coldest moment was actually yesterday. Watching the AFCON opener. Coldest soccer match in history of football.

6 min Spurs with the best of the ball so far, but there's mostly a sense of both teams figuring out how to play football without falling over on the cold, hard ground.

3 min So, it's snowing. Still, But the pitch looks more or less fine. Some isolated white patches, but no areas which look like they're going to cause any real problems.

1 min Right then, let's do a kick off.

15.55 The teams are coming out. Alex Ferguson apparently quipped "no comment" when asked by a journalist about the state of the pitch after he'd had a look at it earlier. This may not tell you anything about the pitch... Perhaps Fergie just assumed the chap was from the BBC?

15.50 Here's a couple clearly wishing they'd gone to see Les Miserables this afternoon:

15.43 Some healthy debate about which formation Manchester United are going to play today. There's talk of a diamond, which seems a bit odd given that Spurs are reasonably potent out wide, especially if Aaron Lennon is having one of his twelve very good games of the season. I'm expecting a 4-2-3-1, with Jones and Carrick the two and Kagawa, Welbeck and Cleverley rotating behind RVP.

15.25 Today's retro highlights are brought to you by the year 2001:

15.15 Here are some teams for you:

Spurs: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Caulker, Naughton, Parker, Dembele, Bale, Lennon, Dempsey, Defoe. Subs: Friedel, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto, Huddlestone, Sigurdsson, Livermore, Townsend

Man Utd: De Gea, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Jones, Cleverly, Kagawa, Van Persie, Welbeck. Subs: Lindegaard, Smalling, Valencia, Anderson, Rooney, Giggs, Chicharito.

Referee: Chris Foy

14.43 Pitch inspection complete, and the game is ON. Olé!

14.50 Afternoon liveblog fans.

It's snowing? Have you heard. I've not seen the news for the last few days so am not sure if it's been given any coverage.

We think we're going to have a football match at White Hart Lane this afternoon. We've got one currently at Chelsea, which isn't a million miles away. It's 10 miles, in fact.

I've seen some live pictures of White Hart Lane today and it's looking playable, but this latest tweet from Spurs doens't fill me with confidence:

Twitter: Tottenham Hotspur - There will be a pitch inspection by the referee at 2:50pm. We will have a further update for you as soon as possible after that time.

I'll bring you the update when it arrives, and the team news should we get to that stage. Stay tuned.

Sunday, January 20

Tottenham Hotspur V Manchester United White Hart Lane. Kick-off: 16.00 GMT. TV: Live Sky Sports 1, Highlights BBC ONE Match of the Day 2.

Tottenham (Possible, 4-4-1-1): Lloris; Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Naughton; Lennon, Parker, Dembélé, Bale; Dempsey; Defoe. Out: Kaboul, Sandro (both knee), Adebayor (international duty), Gallas (calf).

Manchester United (Possible, 4-4-1-1): De Gea; Rafael, Smalling, Ferdinand, Evra; Valencia, Carrick, Anderson, Cleverley; Kagawa, Van Persie. Out: Evans (hamstring), Fletcher (stomach), Young (knee), W Keane (knee). Test: Vidic (knee).

Referee: Chris Foy. Matches 14, R0 Y22.

Team News Tottenham midfielder Scott Parker could make his Premier League start of the season against league leaders Manchester United on Sunday.

Brazil international Sandro has been ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering knee ligament damage in the draw at QPR last weekend and Parker, who has not started a league game since April, is likely to replace him.

Striker Emmanuel Adebayor has now left for the Africa Cup of Nations while defenders William Gallas and Younes Kaboul remain absent.

Jonny Evans again misses out as Manchester United visit Tottenham on Sunday.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson had hoped the Northern Ireland international would have shrugged off a slight hamstring strain but Evans was unable to train this morning and has been ruled out.

Plenty of changes are anticipated following the midweek FA Cup win over West Ham, with Robin van Persie amongst those set to return.

Match Notes Tottenham have already beaten Manchester United once this season, at Old Trafford back in September, and have the chance to record their first ‘double’ over today’s visitors since the 1989-90 season.

United are unbeaten in the league since November and Sir Alex Ferguson could even decide to start with Wayne Rooney but if City beat Fulham, the pressure will be on to maintain their seven point advantage.

Betting: Home 15-8, Away 7-5, Draw 12-5.

Stat of the game: In 20 Premier League meetings at White Hart Lane, Spurs have won just three and lost 12.

John Ley’s prediction: Tottenham Hotspur 1 Manchester United 2.

Sunday, January 20

Tottenham Hotspur V Manchester United White Hart Lane. Kick-off: 16.00 GMT. TV: Live Sky Sports 1, Highlights BBC ONE Match of the Day 2.

Referee: Chris Foy. Matches 14, R0 Y22.

Team News Tottenham midfielder Scott Parker could make his Premier League start of the season against league leaders Manchester United on Sunday.

Striker Emmanuel Adebayor has now left for the Africa Cup of Nations while defenders William Gallas and Younes Kaboul remain absent.

Jonny Evans again misses out as Manchester United visit Tottenham on Sunday.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson had hoped the Northern Ireland international would have shrugged off a slight hamstring strain but Evans was unable to train this morning and has been ruled out.

Plenty of changes are anticipated following the midweek FA Cup win over West Ham, with Robin van Persie amongst those set to return.

Betting: Home 15-8, Away 7-5, Draw 12-5.

Stat of the game: In 20 Premier League meetings at White Hart Lane, Spurs have won just three and lost 12.

John Ley’s prediction: Tottenham Hotspur 1 Manchester United 2.

Premier League

Sport » Football » Manchester United » Tottenham Hotspur » Thom Gibbs »

In Premier League Balotelli and Mancini's bust-up during training

Premier League action

January transfer guide

The January sales

Promotions »

Motoring

Engineering

VistaPrint

Search for Engineering Jobs in the UK and overseas

Search for the full range of VistaPrint services

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United- live

Last updated : 20 January 2013 By telegraph