Manchester United are riding high right now, fresh off tying the Premier League record for biggest margin of victory in a single game. In routing Southampton 9-0 on Tuesday night, they have now done the double on Saints, for the first time since their most recent league title campaign, of 2012-13.
Up next is a visit from Everton, in a match that provides United with an opportunity to achieve another league double, as the Red Devils already claimed the reverse fixture at Goodison Park earlier this season.
Manchester United vs Everton FYIs
Kick-off: 8pm GMT Saturday Feb. 6
Manchester United Starting XI Prediction: go here
Odds: -200 United win, +325 draw, +525 Everton victory
TV (USA): NBCSN, Stream: NBCSports.com
Premier League position: United 44 pts, 2nd Everton 36 pts, 6th
Premier League Form Guide: United WDLWD Everton WLDWL
Team News for Both Sides
United finally added central defender Phil Jones to their Premier League squad, on January transfer window deadline day of all days. And with United signing nobody at all, it invited plenty of “new signing?” jokes. The club is also still waiting on the availability of striker Edinson Cavani who was the recipient of an excessive tackle against Saints.
Flipping over to the Toffees, Jean-Philippe Gbamin is out while Jordan Pickford and Allan could face last minute fitness tests. Having both players miss out would be a pretty big setback, but the latter would hurt much more.
Allan is a critical part of how Carlo Ancelotti likes to build out the stuff they like to run.
Prediction: Manchester 2, Everton 0
Given what happened in the reverse fixture, it’s clear that United have the advantage in this match-up. Don’t expect a wild scoreline like last time though!
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, 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,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.