Manchester United head to the Turf Moor to take on Burnley this weekend in a Premier League fixture that they really got to have. Old Trafford is dysfunction junction right now, but winning cures everything, and United are favored to emerge victorious on the road here.
Manager Jose Mourinho just gave a very colorful press conference, in which he truly ramped up the boasting and bragging. He also continued being contentious with the media. Let’s take a look at United’s roster situation and predict who the Portugese could select for this one.
The Sports Bank Starting XI Prediction
Forwards: Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku, Jesse Lingard
Midfielders: Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Fred
Defenders: Luke Shaw, Victor Lindelof, Chris Smalling, Antonio Valencia
Goalkeeper: David de Gea
United vs Burnley Injury Report/Match Preview: go to this link
With Alexis back, expect him to come in for Marcus Rashford in the attack, while Phil Jones is injured, yes again, so Mourinho will have to make some changes in his centre half pairing, a position group that has been much maligned this summer.
On a side note, this match was supposed to feature a United fan protest against club Vice Chairman Ed Woodward that includes an airplane flying over the stadium, towing a banner expressing discontent with Woodward. So there is all kinds of discord and dysfunction all around United right now.
Kick-off: 4 pm (BST), Sunday 2, Sept
Odds via Betway: Burnley 9/2, Draw 11/4, United 4/6
Prediction: United 1, Burnley 0
The Clarets have only bested United once in 17 tries at the top flight level, so I still like the Red Devils chances here. As always, feel free to post your own United and/or Clarets starting XI predictions, as well as your best guess as to what the final score will be.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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