It was a weekend to forget for Man Utd and Everton as the former was held to a 0-0 draw at home to West Brom while the latter suffered a miserable defeat in the Merseyside derby. Everton fans will be positively glum after losing 3-1 to bitter rivals Liverpool, and a visit to Old Trafford is not exactly the ideal fixture in which to get your season back on track. Jose Mourinho’s men have struggled of late, however, and are only three points clear of Everton in the league. This should prove a tight game between two well-matched teams.
Man Utd have become the draw kings of the Premiership, having finished all square 11 times in 28 matches. That is the most draws of any team in the league this season. Eight of those draws have come at home, and that means that have drawn more than half their league games at Old Trafford this season. Despite regularly dominating matches, they have struggled to find a way to take all three points. Case in point was the West Brom game on Saturday, where they had 75% of the possession and 18 shots on goal to three. They just could not find a way to score. Marcus Rashford looked the most likely and forced Ben Foster into making a couple of superb saves, but West Brom were dogged.
That could all change on Tuesday as Man Utd welcome back star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He has been banned for three games for elbowing Tyrone Mings and Utd have missed him badly. Their other strikers are wayward in front of goal but Ibrahimovic is clinical. Before the suspension, he was on fire and looking like he could challenge for the Golden Boot. That may be beyond him now as he is six behind the league’s leading scorer, with just 10 games to go, but you never know. Ibrahimovic is 10/11 with William Hill to score at any time in this game and that looks a great bet, particularly when Sky Bet will only go to 8/11.
Everton’s defence is a little depleted after they lost Seamus Coleman to a horrible injury, and they were torn apart by Liverpool at the weekend. The pace and movement of Philippe Coutinho, Adam Lallana, and Sadio Mane was just too much for them. Ashley Williams and Phil Jagielka struggled, although you would expect them to be up for the physical battle against Ibrahimovic and Man Utd, a side without as many quick, creative players as Liverpool.
Of course, the league’s leading scorer is Everton’s Romelu Lukaku, who has been in fine form since the turn of the year and on course to win the Golden Boot. However, he was largely anonymous against Liverpool and has been accused of going missing in the big games, which does not bode well for the Man Utd match. Everton have just eight games left, so Ibrahimovic could still catch him, particularly if he outscores the Belgian in this match.
You would expect Everton to give a better account of themselves in this game than they did against Liverpool. Given the low odds available on Man Utd, there does not seem like there is much value in backing them to win this one. The best price you can get is 4/7 at green listed bookmaker William Hill, but that still does not look attractive on a team that has won just 40% of its home games this season. Put the Liverpool result aside, and Everton are in fine form: they have won more points than any Premiership team apart from Tottenham Hotspur since the start of 2017. The draw looks a good option here at 33/10 with Bet Victor.
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