Manchester United vs Stoke Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Manchester United continued their resurgence from a poor spell of form in midweek as they beat Zorya to claim their first Europa League victory. It wasn’t exactly convincing though, with the favourites winning 1-0 thanks to a 69th minute Zlatan Ibrahimovic goal.

Last weekend was much more convincing, as they hammered Premier League champions Leicester 4-1 at Old Trafford, and prior to that they managed a 3-1 win at Northampton Town in the League Cup. This takes their record to seven wins and three losses this season and puts them 6th in the Premier League table, six points adrift of Manchester City at the top.

This close knit group of games has been the perfect remedy for the team though. They needed something to bring them out of a very poor three match losing streak, and a quickfire trio of victories has done just that and hasn’t allowed them to dwell on defeats.

Manchester United should feel confident of getting a win on Sunday too, as their visitors have been shocking this season. Stoke opened the season with a 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough, something which was seen as a poor result but is now something they would give their right arm for.

They followed this with a 4-1 thrashing at home to Manchester City, and despite getting a win in the League Cup they then lost another four in a row, conceding 11 goals and scoring just twice. Last weekend they managed to get their second point of the season at home to West Brom, but they still occupy a dismal 19th place in the Premier League.

Considering Stoke have conceded four goals against Spurs, Crystal Palace and Manchester City this season, I think they could run into some issues at Old Trafford. Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be looking to punish the Stoke defenders, and the likes of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial will also be looking for goals.

I fancy the hosts to have a field-day against Stoke’s dismal defence on Sunday. Manchester United have won four of their games this season by two or more goals, whilst Stoke have lost three of theirs by a comfortable margin. Odds of 2.050 for a Manchester United -1.5 Asian Handicap Win look very good value to me, and I’m going for a 3-0 correct score prediction at 8/1 as well.