It’s very crowded in the middle and just above the middle in the Premier League table right now. You have a multitude of teams competing for UEL and UCL qualification next season, and should the Manchester City ban be upheld upon appeal, then you have another slot open and hence more teams with a chance to get into the tournaments.
Two of these such teams, Manchester United and Everton, will meet at Goodison Park on Sunday. Let’s take a look at who both sides may select in their first team in this crunch clash.
Manchester United Starting XI Prediction: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Bailly, Maguire, Shaw; Fred, Matic; Greenwood, Fernandes, James; Ighalo
Everton Starting XI Prediction:
Pickford; Coleman, Mina, Holgate, Digne; Iwobi, Gomes, Delph, Sigurdsson; Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin
Manchester United at Everton FYIs
March 1, 2pm, Goodison Park
Team news for both sides: go to this link
Result probability: Everton win 38% Draw 28% Manchester United win 34%
Key stat: just eight points separates fourth and 11th place in the table, meaning the margins for error are very small in a race that is extremely crowded for European qualification places.
Premier League Form Guide: Manchester United WWDLL Everton WDDWW
Prediction: Everton 1, United 1
All points are needed right now, on both sides, but I expect this one to end in stalemate, and they’ll split the spoils.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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