Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has predicted that Tottenham Hotspur will lose to Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-finals this weekend.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men head into the Wembley clash on the back of two disappointing league results, a heavy 3-1 loss to champions Manchester City and a 1-1 draw v Brighton on Tuesday.
Opponents United, who sit two places above Spurs in second, come in after comfortably beating Bournemouth away on Wednesday evening.
In his predictions for Sky Sports, Merson foresees a 2-1 win for Jose Mourinho’s side, with the Portuguese well known for his big-game performances.
“The semi-finals is where the FA Cup livens up, they’re always big matches. I was lucky enough to play in a few and you don’t want to lose. This one is a massive match because I don’t know where these two teams are going if they lose this one. There will be a lot of questions for whichever team loses this game.
“You have to remember what happened to Tottenham last week. People were telling me this is an up-and-coming team and they’ll be challenging for the league – they were a million miles behind City. You wouldn’t have thought they were in the same league. Now we’re saying, when are Tottenham going to start winning anything? You’ve got to win now. Otherwise the players start asking questions.
“A lot depends on this game. Watch this space for either team. If I’m a United fan, if they win the FA Cup at least I’d sit there and go, ‘You know what, we won the FA Cup, come second in the league, let’s see next season’. If they lose this, you’ll be wondering, ‘Where are we going from here?’. It was a shocking result against West Brom, and it all comes down to this game. I’m going to favour United here because Jose Mourinho gets the tune in big football matches, and Spurs haven’t really done that.”
The two sides have already met twice in the league this season, with United coming away from Old Trafford with a 1-0 win in October before Spurs waltzed past the Red Devils 2-0 at Wembley in January.
OPINION
You can see why Merson has plumped with United ahead of this weekend’s clash, but it is anyones guess as to who ends up in the final. The two sides have shared the points in the league this season and are both coming in to the match on similar form. Both clubs need the FA Cup win to justify their seasons, and it is an undeniably huge game of football. United tend to do well on the big occasion, whereas Tottenham do not have a great history in games such as these. A semi-final loss to Chelsea last season is testament to that, and Pochettino needs to change that soon.