Manchester United head to the Turf Moor with very high ambitions tomorrow, as they take on a Burnley side that has been an extremely pleasant surprise. The Clarets are currently in seventh place, just five points behind big money London club Arsenal for a Europa League slot.
As for United, the gap behind cross-town rivals Manchester City remains very large, but two star Red Devils midfielders, Paul Pogba and Juan Mata, have declared their side in it to win it; with the resolve to fight City down to the very last match.
That said, let’s look at who is injured, who is a doubt, and who will be given a green light for the Saturday matinee at Burnley.
Striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic made a miraculous early return from a damaged ACL in his knee, but it wasn’t long into his comeback that he suffered a setback, and thus had to return to the sidelines. He’s out for awhile yet, as is central defender Eric Bailly (ankle).
Michael Carrick returned to training (heart condition) during United’s pleasant warm weather Dubai training trip, but it remains to be seen if he’ll be ready to go for this one. We’d have to put him in the doubt category.
Flipping over to the other side, Burnley are hoping that they get Scott Arfield back from a hamstring issue, but Chris Wood and Stephen Ward (both have knee problems) won’t be ready in time. Robbie Brady (knee) and Tom Heaton (shoulder) remain out of commission.
MUFC Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Odds: Burnley– 11/2, Man Utd- 4/7, Draw- 3/1
Jose Mourinho press conference: go to this link
Prediction: United 1, Burnley 0
As always, feel free to post your own Man United and/or Stoke prediction, as well as your forecast for the final score.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune corporation blogging community Chicago Now.
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