Stoke vs Man Utd Preview, Team News, Line-Ups, Betting Tips & Predicted Score

Manchester United will look to put a turbulent week behind them and get back to winning ways when they take on Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on Boxing Day.

The pressure is mounting on Louis van Gaal after United slumped to a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Norwich City at Old Trafford last weekend, leading to serious speculation over the Dutchman’s future.

van Gaal hit back at the media at his press conference yesterday after it was reported that he needed a win at the Britannia to save his job, while some journalists even suggested he was already out the door on Monday night.

The loss against Norwich was United’s third in succession with that poor run of form seeing them go from league leaders to sitting fifth in the table so van Gaal will be desperate to get back to winning ways on Saturday.

However, Stoke away is hardly the ideal scenario for a ‘must-win’ game as Mark Hughes’ side are strong on home soil and have recently beaten Manchester City, so United will have to be on top form to come away with a positive result.

Back Man Utd to win at odds of 7/1 + money back if you lose

Team news

United also have several injury worries to contend with as Matteo Darmian remains unavailable with a hamstring injury so Ashley Yong should keep his place at right-back.

Ander Herrera is pushing for a start after making his comeback off the bench last weekend but Jesse Lingard is out with a hamstring issue while Bastian Schweinsteiger serves the final of his three-game ban.

Morgan Schneiderlin could be back in the starting eleven after a four-game absence but Marcos Rojo, Antonio Valencia and Luke Shaw are all unavailable.

As for Stoke, they will be without Geoff Cameron due to a hamstring injury while Peter Crouch, Stephen Ireland, Shay Given and Marc Muniesa are also out.

Likely Line-Ups

Predicted Score

Stoke 1-1 Man Utd: United have been in disappointing form in recent games and the pressure is firmly on van Gaal’s shoulders. He insists he still has the full backing of the club and players, but he’ll be looking for a response this weekend. I personally don’t think United will win this match, but they might do enough to come away with a point. Will that be enough to save van Gaal? We’ll have to wait and see….

Betting Tips

The bookies are struggling to separate the two teams but Football-Talk can get you enhanced odds of 7/1 on a United victory – just click here to take advantage. My prediction of 1-1 is on offer at 11/2 and I also like the look of Anthony Martial opening the scoring at odds of 6/1. If you combined those two bets in a score-cast then we get very tempting odds of 35/1.

Back Man Utd to win at odds of 7/1 + money back if you lose

What do you think? What line-up would you like to see start?