It’s another clash versus a mid-table side fighting for European qualification on Boxing Day, as Manchester United host Burnley FC. United battled Leicester City to a 2-2 draw on Festivus, in a match that caused United manager Jose Mourinho to stew over chances lost in the post game media interviews.
Mourinho did more than the typical manager “we should have had X goals” cliche. He actually called his team childish at both ends of the box. If United’s league title chances were slim entering the day, they are now next to non-existent as Manchester City gained two more points on them yesterday.
For the full injury report go to this link
Now they’ll take on a very surprising Burnley side that is in seventh place, with 32 points on the season and two off the pace for securing a spot in the Europa League. They are also just three points behind Liverpool for fourth place. However, the Clarets may be coming back to Earth a bit, as they fell 3-0 to Tottenham Hotspur yesterday, in a match which featured some controversial play from Dele Alli.
United haven’t lost a home league game against Burnley FC since 1962, winning eight and drawing five since that fateful meeting. However, Burnley also left Old Trafford with a goalless draw last season, even though they faced a whopping 38 shots, the highest of any single match last season.
Also, only Manchester City and Chelsea have conceded fewer away goals than Burnley this season.
Moving on to the Manchester United starting XI prediction, here’s what we came up with for the Boxing Day clash. Happy Holidays everyone.
Romelu Lukaku
Anthony Martial Jesse Lingard Juan Mata
Nemanja Matic Paul Pogba
Ashley Young Phil Jones Chris Smalling Victor Lindelof
David de Gea
Odds: Burnley FC- 10/1, Man Utd- 1/4, Draw- 19/4
Prediction: United 2, Burnley FC 0
As always, feel free to post your own Man United and/or Leicester starting XI 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 company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube.