Manchester United's Rafael da Silva (L) in action with Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane last season. (Photo : Reuters)
The Premier League is back and capping things off will be a match between perennial powerhouses Manchester United versus Tottenham Hotspur at the Old Trafford in Greater Manchester, England on Saturday, August 8.
After a fairly successful 2015 International Champions Cup stint, Louis van Gaal will finally be able to test his new acquisitions during this budding English season.
United acquired five new players, namely Memphis Depay from PSV Eindhoven, Morgan Schneiderlin from Southampton, Matteo Darmian from Torino, Bastian Schweinsteiger from Bayern Munich, and Sergio Romero from Monaco on loan from Sampdoria, all of whom, except Romero who was not fielded in yet, played fantastically in the North American friendlies.
However, the Red Devils lost their ICC title to Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain during their final match in the tourney, 2-0, via ESPN. Even so, United's new guys did not show any problems adapting to their new environment in winning their first three matches against world class opponents such as Club America (1-0), San Jose Earthquakes (3-1), and FC Barcelona (3-1).
Meanwhile, the Spurs' last game was a 1-0 win last season against Everton FC on May 24, as per SkySports.
Vice-captain Harry Kane scored the winning goal in the opening minutes of the match and Mauricio Pochettino's men held on to the final whistle to claim fifth place in 2014-2015.
The prediction is a close 2-1 victory by the Red Devils over the Lilywhites. The score would be much wider if not for the slight chemistry issues that van Gaal's new wards are bound to experience playing their first official English league match.
Manchester United starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): De Gea; Darmian, Smalling, Blind, Shaw; Carrick, Schneiderlin; Mata, Depay, Young; Rooney
Tottenham Hotspur starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Lloris; Rose, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Trippier; Bentaleb, Dier; Chadli, Dembele, Eriksen; Kane
