With the ball, Erik ten Hag wants his left-back inverting into midfield, a role taken up this season largely by Diogo Dalot due to injuries to Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia.

The Portuguese international and Kobbie Mainoo sit allowing Bruno Fernandes and, of late, Christian Eriksen to get forward.

It creates a double attacking threat behind the striker, be it Joshua Zirkzee or Rasmus Hojlund, with central defenders concerned about the advancing midfielders in their eye-line.

However, this leaves United exposed in transition.

Eriksen and Fernandes are exceptional technical players, but neither is the most athletic. If Spurs break, there will be space in front of the opposition back four, with Mainoo isolated as Dalot retreats to left-back.

Even last season at Old Trafford, Oliver Skipp raced into open field to find Timo Werner, who picked out Rodrigo Bentancur to score. In that instance, Mainoo was on his own as Fernandes and Eriksen desperately tried to get back.

If Ange Postecoglou goes bold with his midfield selection again, there will surely be gaps for James Maddison and Dejan Kuluseveski to exploit.

To mitigate this potential problem, ten Hag could bring in a different profile of midfielder to play alongside Mainoo.

Mason Mount was an unused sub in the last two games after injury but, while his athleticism could be an undoubted asset, perhaps a more defensive minded midfielder will get the nod.

Manuel Ugarte, newly arrived from PSG, is still getting up to full match fitness and played 90 minutes in the Europa League against Twente. Casemiro hasn’t started a league game since a 3-0 loss to Liverpool (1 September), taken off at the break having lost the ball for both first half goals.

Even Mainoo, so dependable, lost possession for the Reds’ third that day. Eriksen did likewise on Wednesday for Sam Lammers’ equaliser.

Ten Hag will be aware of how effective Spurs’ press has been recently for Dominic Solanke’s goal against Brentford and Brennan Johnson’s against Qarabag.

United have strengthened in key areas.

Matthijs De Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui have both joined from Bayern to bulk up at the back with Rafael Varane and Aaron Wan-Bissaka departing.

They’d be even stronger in defence had 18-year-old Leny Yoro, newly arrived from Lille, not picked up a foot injury in pre-season.

Ugarte was the top tackling midfield in Ligue 1 last season, while Zirkzee (12 goals for Bologna in 24/25) will battle Hojlund to start up front. Zirkzee likes to drop deep and link play (as he did for his debut winner against Fulham), while Hojlund wants to run in-behind.

That means options and, while vulnerable themselves to a quick turn-over, United can be devastating on the counterattack.

One imagines Alejandro Garnacho will play ahead of Marcus Rashford on the left-wing with the latter starting on Wednesday. A different player, but it presents the same problem that Rashford has caused Spurs in recent years.

United will look to play an early pass out to the left side when they win the ball back. Bruno Fernandes has the quality and vision to do this and create a goalscoring chance out of nothing.

The United captain did just that early into the 2-2 draw at Old Trafford last season. Picking up the ball deep, he swiftly swept a pass out to Rashford on the left. The England international’s dart into the area caused chaos before Hojlund thumped home.

But will other players in the team be bold enough to try and find him too? If Fernandes is occupied, United will need their centre-backs to play that pass. Lisandro Martinez, at times, looked hesitant to do so midweek.

Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero and Maddison look likely all come back after not being involved on Thursday.

Given that United have had an extra 24-hours rest, fresh legs will be key.

Postecoglou changed his entire midfield for Qarabag and could do the same again by going with the ‘Bentancur, Maddison and Kulusevski’ trio that started the last two league games.

Johnson only played 45 minutes so one imagines he’ll be in condition to start along with Solanke.

Maddison, Sarr, Kulusevski and Bissouma all missed this game last season, as did Son, a doubt for Sunday, but Spurs still had 16 shots to United’s 9 and 64% of the possession without all of those players.