Manchester United commence the defense of their League Cup trophy Wednesday night by welcoming Championship side Burton Albion FC to Old Trafford. The Brewers sit 19th in England’s second tier, so this will be a great chance for several United players to see their first minutes this season.
Midfielder and Captain Michael Carrick, left-back Luke Shaw, goalkeeper Sergio Romero and midfielder Scott McTominay could all potentially see their first action in 2017-18 the season.
Red Devils Manager Jose Mourinho has already confirmed that David De Gea, Antonio Valencia, Eric Bailly and Nemanja Matic will all be rested for this one. Injury wise, midfielder Paul Pogba (hamstring) and defender Axel Tuanzebe (back) are out of this League Cup third-round tie, joining defender Marcos Rojo and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic (both knee) on the sidelines.
For the Brewers, summer addition Liam Boyce will again be sidelined, transfer window deadline-day signing John Brayford is unavailable due to being cup-tied, but Hope Akpan and Matty Palmer could return.
The League Cup has been re-branded yet again, as this year it will be called the Carabao Cup, having been deemed the EFL Cup last season, and the Capital One Cup the previous season. For the sake of clarity and consistency, let’s just call it the League Cup every from now on moving forward.
League Cup Odds: (via Odds Checker) United- 1/9, Draw- 12/1, Burton Albion FC 33/1
Kickoff: 20:00 BST
Man United starting XI prediction: go to this link
Prediction: Manchester United 4, Burton Albion 0
In the words of pop/dance act Junior Senior, “everybody, move your feet and feel United, ohhh oh oh.” Seriously, though, everyone is feeling a United victory in this one, as they will almost certainly move on to the League Cup fourth round. Burton Albion are just way overmatched here.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube.