FORGET POGBA, RASHFORD AND MARTIAL, THIS MANCHESTER UNITED STAR CAN HELP THEM BEAT TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR AT WEMBLEY
Ole Gunnar
Solskjaer will face his toughest test as Manchester United manager on Sunday afternoon as he faces
a tough trip to Wembley to face an in-form Tottenham Hotspur.
Solskjaer has made
a sensational start to his tenure at the Red Devils, winning his opening five
matches, but while the fans are starting to dream of the great times returning
the Norwegian will have to help ignite a mesmerising display from his
United squad, if they are to beat a Spurs flying high in the Premier League.
Only a few months
ago, Spurs thrashed United 3-0 at Old Trafford and that was one of the matches
that was the catalyst for Jose Mourinho's departure, but since Solskjaer's
arrival there has been a real feel-good factor around the Theatre of Dreams
with league wins against Newcastle United, Bournemouth, Huddersfield Town and
Cardiff City seeing Solskjaer bag 12 points from his first four games.
Solskjaer
has breathed a new sense of positivity into the playing squad and he has
managed to find the best out of Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford, while Anthony
Martial has been another that has blossomed under the interim manager and that
triumvirate will be key factors in whether United can maintain their unbeaten
star under the Norwegian boss.
However, while
Spurs will rightly be concocting a plan to keep that trio quiet there could be
one man that slips under the radar a little, and if Solskjaer decides to
unleash him from the start then he could be the defining factor in the game.
Juan Mata's time at Old Trafford could be coming to an end
with the experienced midfielder looking for an extension on his contract, but
the Spanish international has a fine record against Spurs, and if he can
produce his best at Wembley then he could well feed the likes of Rashford and
Martial some sensational through-balls that could give the Spurs backline some
problems.
Mata has faced
Spurs 10 times during his time in the Premier League - with a handful of them
coming while he was at Chelsea - but during those games he has scored
three goals and provided four assists, so he has shown he can deliver the goods
against Mauricio Pochettino's side and Sunday can see him shine once again.
He didn't feature
when United lost 3-0 at home to Spurs and hasn't been too fruitful this season
- scoring only two goals and assisting two - but Solskjaer is the sort of
manager that could use Mata in the right way and while Mourinho often left him
on the sidelines in big away matches, he has shown his brilliance against Spurs
in previous seasons, and could help United get a result on Sunday afternoon.

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