Manchester United vs Tottenham will come down to who wins the personal battle… Nemanja Matic vs Christian Eriksen and Romelu Lukaku vs Harry Kane
SATURDAY'S game at Old Trafford provides Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur with two different possibilities.
For the home side the game is a chance to get back on track in the Premier League after an uninspiring draw at Liverpool, and a wretched defeat against Huddersfield.
That defeat even saw Jose Mourinho question his players’ attitude.
Spurs, meanwhile, travel north having dismantled Liverpool at Wembley on the back of an impressive draw in the Bernabeu against Real Madrid.
Both were in midweek action in the League Cup but the two sides who will walk out at the Theatre of Dreams will look very different.
The big names will return for what is expected to be the game of the weekend.
The contest kicks off at 12.30pm and is being shown live on Sky Sports and our friends at Football Whispers provide the ultimate preview of the game...
Key battle: Nemanja Matic vs Christian Eriksen
When Manchester United paid £40m to sign the powerful Serbian from Chelsea this summer questions were asked as to why the Red Devils had paid such a figure for the 29-year-old.
After all, while Matic had been part of the Blues title-winning side, he was by far at his destructive best and, in truth, hadn’t been for over two years.
However, it took just 90 minutes of Premier League action for Matic to prove that Mourinho knew best.
He produced a man-of-the-match performance in his league debut for the Red Devils, a 4-0 thumping of West Ham United.
Matic has maintained his exceptional performances since, although he was poor against Huddersfield.
United will need Matic to be at his destructive best against Spurs, however, as he will need to shackle one of the Premier League’s outstanding players, in Eriksen.
The Dane has become vital for Spurs under the guidance of Mauricio Pochettino and his displays have seen him become a Barcelona transfer target.
This season Eriksen has averaged 2.3 key passes in the top flight and is taking 2.8 shots per game.
He is Spurs’ main creator and you sense Mourinho will want to stifle his influence on the game.
He could use Ander Herrera if he overcomes injury but Matic, who is averaging two tackles and two interceptions a per 90 minutes, is the more likely option.
That's in no small part down to his temperament and experience in big games.
He’s been Mourinho’s destroyer in the past, and should be on Saturday at Old Trafford.
Potential match winners: Romelu Lukaku and Harry Kane
No surprise names here...
Two of the Premier League’s best strikers will go head-to-head and whichever enjoys the better day should be able to fire their team to victory.
Since his move to United from Everton for £75m, Lukaku has been in excellent form.
He has scored 16 goals in 17 games in all competitions, although hasn’t found the net in his last four.
The first of that sequence was against Liverpool.
His inability to notch against the Reds – albeit with Mourinho’s defensive tactics – once again raised the question as to whether the big Belgian is a flat-track bully.
Lukaku’s superb start to the season saw him score against Swansea City, Leicester City and Crystal Palace, among others.
But his failure to find the net against the Reds meant the 24-year-old has only scored five goals in 36 games against the "Big Six" since the summer of 2014.
The same can’t be said for Kane. Assuming the England international is fit, he will look to continue his outstanding run of form in the Premier League since the start of September.
Kane has scored eight goals in his last six league games, the latest being the double he struck against Liverpool last weekend.
In contrast to Lukaku, Kane has proven himself the man for the big occasion.
He has found the net 16 times in 28 matches against the top six in the same period as Lukaku.
Kane averages a goal every 0.57 games against the top flight’s best compared to the Belgium international’s 0.13.
Managers’ tactics
Mourinho is likely to go with the tried and trusted against Spurs.
While he deployed a back three in the midweek win over Swansea, expect the Portuguese to set his side up in a 4-2-3-1 system.
The biggest dilemma is who slots into the attacking trio behind Lukaku, but barring injury, he is likely to go with Juan Mata, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Rashford.
Pochettino is far more tactically flexible and could set up his side with a back four or a back three.
The latter is more likely to combat the threat of Lukaku and, assuming Kane is fit, a fluid front three of Eriksen, Dele Alli and Kane could be deployed.
Likely line-ups
United will assess Rashford (hamstring) and Herrera (ankle) ahead of the game.
But there is good news for Mourinho with Phil Jones confirming he is fit after injuring his hip against Huddersfield.
Eric Bailly (groin) should also be ready to return.
Paul Pogba (hamstring), Marouane Fellaini (knee), Michael Carrick (calf) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (knee) are definitely ruled out while Marcos Rojo (knee) is major doubts.
Mousa Dembele could return to Premier League action but Erik Lamela isn’t expected to feature as he inches closer to a return.
The Argentine hasn’t featured for Spurs since October 25 last year.
Victor Wanyama is ruled out due to a knee injury.
Key stats
Kane has scored at least twice in each of the last eight games in which he has found the net for Tottenham.
Only Wayne Rooney (15) has struck more Premier League goals as a teenager for United than Marcus Rashford (13).
Mourinho has failed to win all 19 Premier League games in which his side have fallen two goals behind (drawn one, lost 18).