Manchester United’s momentum under new boss Michael Carrick continued with a fourth win in a row.
But this was a match that swung on the 29th-minute dismissal of Tottenham Hotspur’s Cristian Romero (£5.0m), who saw red for the second time in 2025/26.
Here are our Scout Notes from Old Trafford.
ROMERO’S BAN LENGTH + UDOGIE INJURY
With this being Romero’s second sending off of the season, he gets an extra game tagged on to a three-match ban for serious foul play.
So, it’s a four-match suspension in all. As Spurs are out of the FA Cup, that ban will be entirely comprised of Premier League fixtures, too.
We won’t see him again till Gameweek 30.
Thomas Frank has further worries at the back, with Destiny Udogie (£4.3m) the latest to join the injury list. Details are scarce at present but it looked like a hamstring issue for the left-back.
“We will assess him tomorrow. So, of course, I will probably see you guys in, what, two days’ time or less, and then we’ll know more. We’ll assess him tomorrow.” – Thomas Frank on Destiny Udogie
EVEN MATCH UNTIL THE RED CARD
This is a difficult match to assess from an FPL perspective as Spurs had been very much in the game until Romero’s dismissal.
The xG was pretty much level for the first half an hour, with Conor Gallagher (£5.4m) having the best of Spurs’ chances from just outside the six-yard box.
Thereafter, the numerically disadvantaged visitors found it trickier to carve much out.
After starting with a 3-4-3 in recent weeks, Thomas Frank went back to more of a 4-3-3 here. The Lilywhites didn’t let United settle, and after some improved Spurs performances at home and abroad, this game might have been heading in a similar direction. Alas, we’ll never know how it might have panned out.
With a beleaguered Newcastle United up next, there might be some quiet optimism that Spurs can nick a result on Tuesday night.
Xavi Simons (£6.5m) has improved majorly recently and, while game-state meant we didn’t see much of him from an attacking perspective, he did whistle a second-half effort narrowly wide.
BRUNO’S CLEAN SWEEP
Bruno Fernandes (£9.7m) topped the pile for shots (eight), chances created (six) and non-penalty expected goal involvement (xGI, 1.24) in the Premier League on Saturday.
A bit of stat-padding against 10 men? Perhaps, but three of his efforts and two of his chances created had come even before Romero’s dismissal, so he was well on his way to more eye-catching underlying numbers regardless.
His first goal since Gameweek 16 arrived in the 80th minute, when he made a far-post dash to meet Diogo Dalot‘s (£4.5m) cross.
It really should have been a 14-point haul and not 10, too. Benjamin Sesko (£7.2m) missed an absolute sitter from Bruno’s injury-time cross; had that gone in, Fernandes would have stolen the maximum bonus from Dalot.
CUNHA UP TOP
Carrick went unchanged with his starting XI on Saturday, at least in terms of personnel.
But there was a tactical tweak, with Matheus Cunha (£8.1m) up top and Bryan Mbeumo (£8.5m) playing off the left.
It was a pretty fluid set-up, in any event, with Mbeumo drifting centrally and Luke Shaw (£4.5m) getting down the left.
It also didn’t particularly aid Cunha, who had one solitary shot – from distance – all game. Mbeumo, meanwhile, bagged his goal from a well-worked set play, the massively improved Kobbie Mainoo (£4.6m) touching on Fernandes’ corner to the Cameroon international.
Even Bruno ended up playing on the left in the closing stages, and he indeed he got his goal and teed up Sesko from that position.
The question is: will Carrick keep things unchanged again for Tuesday? It’s a quick-ish turnaround but United then have no fixture for almost a fortnight, so there’s plenty of time to rest beyond West Ham.
“It kind of works both ways sometimes. We play Tuesday and then we’ve got a bit of a gap coming to Everton. We’ve got to manage the rhythm of the games, as much as anything. Sometimes, the rhythm can help and, sometimes, it gets a bit heavy and it can hinder you. So I think we’ve just got to take what’s in front of us. It’s another big game on Tuesday night, at West Ham, then we’ll regroup, rest, recover and sharpen up for the one after that.” – Michael Carrick on the fixture turnaround
Mbeumo did seem to be limping on his way out of Old Trafford, so that’s something to listen out for in Carrick’s pre-match presser.
