James Maddison will be a crucial player for Tottenham vs Manchester United
Tottenham Hotspur got off to the perfect start in the Europa League with a 3-0 victory over Qarabag on Thursday night. Now, they turn their focus to the Premier League where the Lilywhites travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on Sunday.
Both teams are aiming to finish in the top four, but at this juncture of the campaign, they are struggling to put together a good run of form. Pressure has been released a bit from Ange Postecoglou’s shoulders after Spurs’ three wins on the spin across all competitions. The Greek-Australian tactician will be looking to make it four wins on the trot by beating Man United.
Former Premier League winner Alan Shearer has named one Tottenham player in particular who could cause plenty of problems for the fragile Man United defence. That player is none other than James Maddison.
James Maddison has performed well for Tottenham in an otherwise slow start to the 2024/25 season, bagging a goal and two assists in five Premier League outings. The English playmaker garnered huge praise from different corners of the world, including former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy, for his performance in Spurs’ 3-1 league win over Brentford last weekend.
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And now Alan Shearer feels the 27-year-old is one of the Spurs stars who could hurt Man United on Sunday. This is what he said while speaking to Betfair (h/t The Metro).
“Spurs have players that can hurt United. James Maddison is a top player, he’s one of the players that could say he played his part and did okay during Spurs’ slow start to the season.”
“I’m a fan of his, I like what he brings to the team and he got his goal last weekend. Confidence wise, that’ll be great for him and he’ll play a huge part, absolutely.”
After signing from Leicester City in the summer of 2023, Maddison began his Spurs career in scintillating form before an ankle injury sustained against Chelsea ruled him out for almost three months.
The creative midfielder struggled to regain his form after the injury, scoring just one goal and registering four assists in 17 games as Tottenham missed out on a Champions League spot. This meant he wasn’t included in the England squad at Euro 2024 in Germany.
A good start to the new season has seen Maddison being reborn again. The £170,000-per-week star has been central to Ange Postecoglou’s side, acting as the creative glue from the No.10 role. This season, though, he has occupied a deeper central midfield role to try and influence the proceedings for his team and that plan has worked well.
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Maddison is a player who has the quality to decide games single-handedly, and as rightly said by Shearer, he could make a huge difference for us against the Red Devils.
