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

Manchester United will look to get their top four push back on track when they take on Stoke City at Old Trafford on tonight.

The Red Devils eased in to the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 3-1 victory over Derby County on Friday night but the players must now switch focus to league matters this evening.

Pressure mounted on Louis van Gaal once again last weekend following a disappointing 1-0 loss at home to Southampton when Charlie Austin came off the bench to score a late winner at Old Trafford.

That defeat has left United sitting fifth in the Premier League table and five points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham so they desperately need to get back to winning ways tonight to keep their Champions League qualification hopes alive.

However, United know this won’t be an easy game as they lost at the Britannia on Boxing Day and the Potters sit just four points adrift in the table, so van Gaal’s men are going to need to be on top form to get all three points this evening.

BACK MAN UTD TO WIN AT CRAZY ODDS OF 5/1 + MONEY BACK IF YOU LOSE

Team news

United continue to have injury problems at the back with Matteo Darmian expected to miss out once again so he’ll join Ashley Young, Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia on the sidelines.

There has been no update on the fitness of Phil Jones so the defender could sit this one out with a foot problem so youngsters Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Guillermo Varela are set to start in the full-back slots.

Bastian Schweinsteiger has been ruled out for another month with a knee injury but Michael Carrick is available after returning to the squad on Friday night.

Stoke have injury problems of their own to deal with as Marc Wilson may not play again this season after suffering a serious knee injury last time out.

Ryan Shawcross and Geoff Cameron are also missing but Glen Johnson and Marko Arnoutovic are set for recalls after being rested at the weekend.

Likely Line-ups

Predicted Score

Man Utd 2-1 Stoke: United’s inconsistent form has plagued them all season long but they simply have to get a positive result tonight to keep in touch with the top four. Stoke will no doubt cause plenty of problems but United looked much better against Derby and I have a feeling they’ll do just enough to get the three points.

Betting Tips

Man Utd are the 7/10 favourites with the bookmakers but Football-Talk can get you enhanced odds of 5/1 on a home win – just click here to take advantage of this limited time offer. My prediction of 2-1 is on offer at 8/1 while I also like the look of Anthony Martial scoring the first goal at 5/1. If you combined those two bets in a score-cast then we get very tempting odds of 25/1.

BACK MAN UTD TO WIN AT CRAZY ODDS OF 5/1 + MONEY BACK IF YOU LOSE

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