Football Tips Today Acca for Saturday 28/10/2017
EFL Cup Final – Manchester United v Southampton: Pre-Match Analysis
Jose Mourinho will lead his Man Utd side out in the first domestic final of the season, a competition which he has won on 3 occassions. United have lost just one of their last 25 matches in all competitions, a 2-1 loss to Hull in the second leg of the semi-final of this competition. Mourinho’s men have reached the final via defeating Northampton, rivals Manchester City, West Ham and then Hull over 2 legs. Mourinho has won 9 of 10 domestic cup finals across Europe and has won 3 of 3 in this competition. United have won each of their last 6 games in all competitions, 5 of those wins have come to nil.
Southampton are yet to concede a goal in this competition and dispatched of Crystal Palace, Sunderland, Arsenal and Liverpool to reach this stage. The Saints have played a lot of football this season, this game will be their 40th. Claude Puel’s team have lost 3 of their last 4 and are more than likely to have had one eye on this game. Virgil Van Dijk have been a major miss in recent weeks, while defensive partner and club captain Jose Fonte departed in January. Charlie Austin has been out since December and January signing Manolo Gabbiadini will continue to lead the line having scored 3 goals in his first 2 games in English football. All of Southampton’s EFL Cup games this season have had Under 2.5 goals.
As has already been mentioned, Mourinho has an impressive record in terms of domestic cup finals and he is evidently keen to get his first trophy at United under his belt. Zlatan Ibrahimović is no stranger to the big occasions and has 5 goals in United’s last 5 games, he’s 5/4 to score anytime and 15/8 to score in a Man Utd win. Juan Mata has contributed important goals on numerous occasions this season and given the absence of Henrik Mhkitaryan it is likely the Spaniard will start. Mata to score and United to win in 90 minutes is 11/2 and this is a bet a very much like the look of. Despite often being used as a squad player, Mata is United’s second top goalscorer this season with 9 goals in all competitions. Cup final’s tend to be cagey affairs, both domestic cup final’s in England were 0-0 at half-time. The 13/8 offered for 0-0 half-time correct score is also an appealing bet.
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