Manchester United vs Middlesbrough
England Premier League.
Date: Saturday, 31st December 2016.
Kick-off at 15:00 UK.
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester.
United are unbeaten in the league since their heavy 4-0 defeat against Chelsea on October 23. They have also kept a clean sheet in their final league game of 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 and will be confident of continuing that run.
However, Manchester United will be without Wayne Rooney who has been ruled out with a thigh injury.
The injury ruled Rooney out against Sunderland on Boxing Day and while there is no definitive timescale on his return, Mourinho confirmed he will be missing against Middlesbrough.
Meanwhile, Aitor Karanka's side have lost three of their last four Premier League games and are four points off the relegation zone in 15th place.
Manchester United boss Mourinho hired Karanka as his assistant at Real Madrid in 2010 and they spent three years together.
"I spent three amazing years with him at Madrid," Karanka said in his pre-match press conference on Thursday.
"It will be nice to see him. At the end of the game, we will share a glass of wine or beer or coke. This is one of the fixtures I was looking forward to most. I have a lot to thank Jose Mourinho for."
Manchester United: Team News
Jose Mourinho has no reason to change the starting line-up that earned a comfortable 3-1 win against Sunderland on Boxing Day. However, tweaks are expected in order to cope with the tightly packed fixture list at the beginning of the New Year.
Wayne Rooney is a major doubt here, so do defenders Luke Shaw and Eric Bailly.
Manchester United: Predicted Starting Line-up (4-3-3)
De Gea – Blind, Rojo, Jones, Valencia – Pogba, Carrick, Herrera – Mata, Mkhitaryan, Ibrahimovic.
Middlesbrough: Team News
Antonio Barragan will serve his one match ban after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in the 1-0 defeat against Burnley. Danish midfielder Viktor Fischer is a major doubt here, while James Husband is sidelined since a while.
Middlesbrough: Predicted Starting Line-up (4-3-3)
Valdes – Friend, Gibson, Chambers, Nsue – Forshaw, Clayton, Roon – Ramirez, Traore, Negredo.
Manchester United vs Middlesbrough: Head-to-head stats
Middlesbrough visited Manchester United during the last season for the Capital One fixture and returned with a win from penalty-shootout. But United were unbeaten in the previous 10 matches against Middlesbrough with 6 wins and 4 draws.
Manchester United vs Middlesbrough: Prediction
The bookies are heavily favouring Manchester United to win here and we believe they will deliver it without a doubt. However, Middlesbrough are a team that could trouble the higher ranked teams with their ultra-defensive approach.
The Red Devils had just met a similar side in Sunderland few days ago and struggled to break through in earlier parts of the game. They were only able to utilize the space when Sunderland were chasing an equalizer in the final minutes.
Middlesbrough will struggle to win matches, but they are one of the toughest defense in the league to breach. They were beaten by more than 1 goal margin just twice in 18 league matches this season. So our main and only pick for this match is to back Middlesbrough on a +1.5 Asian handicap.
Manchester United vs Middlesbrough: Bet Tips
Asian Handicap +1.5 for Middlesbrough at the odds of 2.050.
