Man Utd v Spurs - OPTA Preview

Manchester United's incredible 5-3 win over Tottenham at White Hart Lane earlier in the campaign was one of the most shocking, exciting, and entertaining Premiership games in years. The two sides meet at Old Trafford on Wednesday, and one can only hope that on this occasion, lightning does strike twice.

Spurs raced into a 3-0 half time lead in the early-season meeting between the teams, but there seems little hope of Glenn Hoddle's side repeating that feat in Manchester with the Red Devils looking to keep their place at the Premiership summit as they head into the final stages of the championship race.

One of the keys to United's revival has been the switch from Alex Ferguson's controversial 4-4-1-1 formation back to the tried and trusted system of old using two out-and-out forwards. Indeed the partnership between Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been nothing short of sensational, with the pair firing a total of 31 league goals between them.

The fact is, there have hardly been two deadlier strikers than Solskjaer and van Nistelrooy this term. The Norwegian has scored with 27.9% of his shots and his Dutch partner has netted with 27.5% of his. Only Liverpool's Michael Owen - who has buried 31.1% of his efforts on goal - can boast a better figure than either of United's front two.

However things didn't quite go to plan against Derby for the pair. Solskjaer hit the post in the first half while his Dutch partner saw one of his nine efforts on Sunday tipped on to the post and did everything except score, as the Rams took a vital point from the clash.

Ironically, Solskjaer's finishing skills were rarely on show at United last season because Teddy Sheringham was keeping him out of the team. Now back at Spurs, the Player of the Year has been nowhere near as prolific as he was in a United shirt, scoring only five league goals to date while Solskjaer has flourished in his absence at Old Trafford.

Sheringham is not the only Spurs forward to have suffered in front of goal this term though. The England forward's malaise appears to have spread around the club with internationals Steffen Iversen and Sergei Rebrov both scoring with just 5.3% of shots this term - only two regular Premiership forwards have a worse ratio.

A sign of how wasteful Spurs have been is that they have hit the target with only 38% of their shots in 2001-02, which is the lowest proportion of any side in the division. They hit the target with just six out of 19 efforts against Sunderland at the weekend although they came away with a 2-1 win, but it's highly unlikely that United will allow them as many chances, or let such inaccuracy go unpunished.

Rupert Webster