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NEW TACTICAL FORMATION MAY HELP SPURS AGAINST MANCHESTER UNITED

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Manchester United will seek to respond to their defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion as they host this Monday, a Tottenham Hotspur side that have made their best start to a season in four years.

But statistically, the game tilts more to United’s side as they have won 21 of their previous 26 Premier League home matches against Tottenham who had won just two and drew three.

Manchester  United have Nemanja Matic, Antonio Valencia and Alexis Sanchez back in training but Jose Mourinho is yet to decide if they can play.

Diogo Dalot (knee) has also fully trained for the first time since joining United but Marcos Rojo and Sergio Romero remain out due to injury.

For Spurs, Victor Wanyama is recovering from a knee problem and is likely to remain sidelined with Juan Foyth (thigh).

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Son Heung-min is also unavailable while he represents South Korea at the 2018 Asian Games.

Meanwhile, Mauricio Pochettino, the Argentine manager of Spurs, has a big decision to make ahead of the trip to Old Trafford. It has to do with tactical formation.

Does the Tottenham Hotspur manager choose the 3-1-4-2 formation he started with in their 3-1 win over Fulham?

Or will he revert to the 4-2-3-1 that has worked so well since he moved away from a regular back three in December 2017?

What Pochettino saw in the final stages of Matchweek 2 might help him decide.

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Spurs changed formation in the 63rd minute last weekend after Fulham had equalised to make it 1-1.

Pochettino substituted centre-back Davinson Sanchez for midfielder Mousa Dembele as Spurs moved back to a familiar 4-2-3-1.

Ten minutes later they made another bold change in bringing on the creative Erik Lamela for Eric Dier.

It made them instantly more effective at both ends of the pitch. Spurs found improved control, variety and dynamism, and asserted their authority inside Fulham territory.

This was reflected in the match stats.

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During the last 31 minutes, including stoppage time, Spurs restricted Fulham to just one shot, which went off target.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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