Manchester United welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon looking to keep track of local rivals Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table. City currently lead the way by eight points after United dropped points in three of their last five games and Jose Mourinho knows that his side can ill afford to drop any more points in the coming weeks.
English Premier League – Old Trafford, Manchester – Saturday 25th November 2017 – 15:00 UK Time
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Draw Best Odd of: 11/2 at Ladbrokes |
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Manchester United
BrightonOn Saturday they take on a Brighton side who are on a run of five games unbeaten and who are sitting pretty in 9th place in the table. Brighton were expected to struggle this season, but they have looked like a solid Premier League team so far.
Manchester United
Jose Mourinho will have been pleased with the 4-1 demolition of Newcastle United last weekend, but less than impressed with the performance shown during their 1-0 defeat to Basel on Wednesday night. Manchester United only needed to avoid defeat to qualify for the next round, but went down to a late goal after an underwhelming performance. Zlatan Ibrahimovic continued his recovery from injury in that game and I would expect him to be involved from the bench again on Saturday. Phil Jones and Eric Bailly remain side lined through injury, but Marcos Rojo did play in the week and will be pushing for a start this weekend.
Brighton & Hove Albion
Brighton have looked solid recently, going five games unbeaten. Last time out, they drew 2-2 with Stoke City after falling behind twice in the game and Chris Hughton will have been impressed with the character shown by his side. Davy Propper is a fitness doubt for the game after picking up an injury to his thigh, whilst Steve Sidwell will definitely miss the game with a long term injury.
Talking Points
1. Manchester United have won 12 games in a row at Old Trafford, conceding just once and scoring 19 times this season.
2. Romelu Lukaku scored his first goal in seven matches against Newcastle United and will be looking to enter another purple patch in the lead up to Christmas.
3. These two sides have not met since 1983; in that season Brighton finished dead last in the league.
Prediction
Brighton have been solid recently, but I don’t think that will be enough at Old Trafford on Saturday. Manchester United looked back to their best against Newcastle last time out and with Paul Pogba back in the midfield I think they will start to blow teams away again. I fear for Brighton in this one and I think the Red Devils could easily score three or four goals here.
Betting Tips
Manchester United start this game as big favourites at odds of 2/11, whilst an away win for Brighton is priced up at 22/1, with the draw available at 11/2. Considering that Manchester United have conceded just once at Old Trafford this season, I think betting on them to win without conceding is a solid bet at 8/13. In terms of goal scorers, I fancy Paul Pogba to find the net again on Saturday and his height could well be a problem for Brighton. The mercurial Frenchman is available at 7/4 to score at anytime and that looks like good value to me.
Manchester United to win and BTTS (NO) – 8/13 (Ladbrokes)