Erik ten Hag knows Tottenham will come out fighting on Thursday and has already warned his players to match that anger and desire.
United travel to north London on Thursday evening looking to further cement their place in the top-four, knowing three points would send them nine clear of their hosts. Spurs have endured a torrid week already, with that 6-1 defeat at Newcastle humiliating enough for Christian Stellini to lose his role as interim head coach.
Tottenham were 5-0 down inside 21 minutes and a large portion of their away following already on their way out of St James' Park. So dismal was their effort that on Tuesday, the players agreed to reimburse the fans who travelled.
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"As a squad, we understand your frustration, you anger," a statement from the Spurs squad read. "It wasn't good enough. We know words aren't enough in situations like this but believe us, a defeat like this hurts. We appreciate your support, home and away, and with this in mind we would like to reimburse fans with the cost of their match tickets from St James' Park.
"We know this does not change what happened on Sunday and we will give everything to put things right against Manchester United on Thursday evening when, again, your support will mean everything to us. Together - and only together - can we move things forward."
Ten Hag will expect Tottenham to bounce back in front of their own crowd on Thursday, motivated by defiance in righting the wrongs of Sunday's defeat. While not as humiliating, United suffered their own setback at the hands of Newcastle earlier this month, and the Dutchman spoke of the exact same anger.
"I said after the game in the dressing room, ‘It can’t be that the opponent is angrier than we are'," Ten Hag told BBC Radio Five Live after the defeat in Newcastle. "The race for the top four is going to be a fight, and you can only win that when you match the desire and passion of the opponent.
"Setbacks always you have to deal with, we have to leave this behind and only take the lessons from the determination, about the passion and desire."
United bounced back from that loss with three straight league wins and not a single goal conceded, so Ten Hag will inevitably expect Tottenham to try and do similar. Win in north London and his side can take another huge step to qualify for next season's Champions League.
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