It’s been a dreadful Premier League campaign for both sides, but come Wednesday, Manchester United and Tottenham each try to qualify for the Champions League. This is the second-ever all-English Europa final, with United last winning the competition in 2017 and the Spurs back in 1984.
How to watch Manchester United vs. Tottenham Hotspur
- Venue: San Mamés — Bilbao, Spain
- Time: Wednesday, 3 p.m. ET, 21:00 CET
- TV: CBSSN, Telemundo (US), TNT Sports 1 (UK)
- Streaming: Fubo (try for free)
Tottenham comfortably advanced past Bodø/Glimt in the prior stage. It was powered from the go by Brennan Johnson’s first-leg strike in the opening 39 seconds, which marked the fastest goal in Europa League semifinal history. The club ultimately won 5-1 on aggregate, with additional goals from Dominic Solanke (two), Pedro Porro and James Maddison.
It’s been summarily ugly for the Spurs since qualifying for this final. They took back-to-back 2-0 losses to Crystal Palace and Aston Villa, and have now been outscored, 16-5, in their last six Premier League results. Admittedly, Ange Postecoglou has been resting key players across the last few EPL matches, but the Lilywhites’ spot at 17th in the table speaks for itself. Europa League silverware could at least salvage Postecoglou’s job, though that’s far from guaranteed. Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski are among the players unavailable for Wednesday’s tilt.
Tottenham is unbeaten across its last six contests versus United (4-0-2). In EPL play, the Spurs won 3-0 on the road last September, then edged out a tense 1-0 finish in North London in February.
Things haven’t been much better in Manchester, who start the match week at a paltry 16th. Like Tottenham, the Red Devils comfortably walked through semifinal staging, theirs over Athletic Club by 7-1 on aggregate. The first leg was 3-0 on this very pitch in Bilbao, paced by a 30th-minute Casemiro score and then two Bruno Fernandes goals. Fernandes was substituted for in the second half of last week’s loss to Chelsea, but he does not carry an injury designation for Wednesday. Mason Mount had two goals at Old Trafford in the second leg.
Ruben Amorim has endured a miserable campaign since joining United, but the vibes would indeed be ameliorated with a trophy hoist and Champions League clincher.
“I believe that we have a very good manager now. I believe that we have a lot of people who are trying to bring stability around the club. What our fans care about most, though, is what happens on the field and what is happening on the field, people are not liking — our fans are not liking,” David Beckham recently told David Ornstein of The Athletic. “But the one thing is, our supporters turn up week after week. There are 74,000 fans in that stadium no matter what, no matter how we’re playing or who’s playing. The manager knows that, the manager understands that. It’s why I like Ruben and I think he has got a real opportunity here.”
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(Photo of Bruno Fernandes: Shaun Botterill / Getty Images)