Man Utd v Tottenham: Injury hit United still too good at home
Published:Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is convinced his young defence will have enough to shut out Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford.
United will be without first choice centre-back pairing Rio Ferdinand and captain Nemanja Vidic who both limped off in their 2-1 win against West Bromwich Albion last weekend.
They are replaced by Chris Smalling and Phil Jones who are just 21 and 19 years old respectively.
Ferguson said: “We are confident in the players coming in.
“They have the potential, temperament and courage to play and I think they’ll do very well.
“You can’t beat experience, there’s no question about that.
“But I’m looking forward to Monday rather than worrying about it. I think they’ll do very well.”
Ferguson has every reason to be optimistic for the visit of Harry Redknapp’s side.
Spurs haven’t won at Old Trafford since 1989 and are playing their first game of the season after their opening encounter with Everton was called off because of the Tottenham riots.
They face a United team with a fantastic home record that saw them drop just two points at Old Trafford last season.
Backing United, with their host of new signings to beat a rather stagnant looking Spurs team at 8/13 looks like the bet.
With Spurs keeping only three clean sheets on the road last term and United boasting the best home defence in the league, putting some cash on United to win this one to nil at 9/4 is also well worth considering – even with the young defence.
