There is a ground-breaking first in the Premier League on Friday night when the first ever Friday Night Football takes place and it begins with a bit of a bang as Manchester United host Southampton in a battle of the moneybags against the brilliant academy style.
Both sides picked up points in the opening weekend of the season and both have the chance to steal a bit of a march on their rivals before the rest of the matches over the next couple of days so this should be competitive.
Man Utd
Jose Mourinho got off to a winning start in his Manchester United career when his side saw off Bournemouth 3-1 on Sunday. He gave us a glimpse of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in that match with Wayne Rooney playing behind him and it will be interesting to see how that combination works at Old Trafford.
If there is going to be a question mark over United this season it is likely to come in defence but they defended well at Dean Court and a repeat of that will give them every chance here. We know wherever he has been that Mourinho likes his home ground to be a fortress so we can expect United to lay a marker down here.
Southampton
With all the upheaval and change in manager and everything else that happened in the close season a draw with Watford on Saturday wasn’t the worst result for Southampton. At times in that match they looked decent enough but you could tell it was a side who are still getting to grips with the new regime.
One thing Southampton are never short of is pace in their side and it will be interesting to see if they can get the ball into the areas where that pace can have an impact in an attacking sense. Southampton have won on their last two trips to Old Trafford and go in search of an unlikely hat trick.
Team News
Manchester United will be able to give a second debut to Paul Pogba after the midfielder was suspended for the season opener last weekend. Chris Smalling also returns from suspension and is likely to slot straight in.
Jose Fonte missed the match against Watford for Southampton having been rested due to his excursions in the European Championship but he could feature here. Ryan Bertrand remains out through injury.
Betting
This looks like a good time for Man Utd to be playing Southampton. I think Southampton need a couple more weeks to gel into their new style and get up to speed and everything and United should be in the position to take advantage of that.
Hopes and expectations around Old Trafford will be high and with the amount of money the club has spent they can’t afford a slow start to their home campaign. With the power of Paul Pogba in midfield and the quality United have in forward areas I expect them to win this and if they are really on it they should win a shade easily.
We can get a pretty decent price on the -1 Asian line on United here and that looks to me. I expect United to win the game so the worst we’ll do here is get a push but given that I expect Jose to urge his side to give their fans a really top performance I think a full payout is likely.
Tips
WON – Back Man Utd (-1AH) to beat Southampton for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with 188bet
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