There are two cracking Premier League fixtures to look forward to on Thursday evening, with Ipswich hosting Brighton (19:30) at Portman Road followed by Southampton’s trip to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United (20:00).
The Red Devils hope to build on Sunday’s FA Cup penalty shoot-out victory over Arsenal, while Ipswich could move out of the relegation zone with victory against Brighton.
- SOUTHAMPTON TO BEAT MANCHESTER UNITED
- SOUTHAMPTON TO SCORE OVER 0.5 GOALS
- IPSWICH OR DRAW DOUBLE CHANCE V BRIGHTON
Bet On The Premier League
Man United vs Southampton
Manchester United pulled off a big penalty shoot-out victory over Arsenal in the third round of FA Cup on Sunday and the Red Devils will hope to continue to progress when Southampton head to Old Trafford.
United's success over the Gunners followed a 2-2 draw with Liverpool at Anfield and Ruben Amorim’s men have received plenty of plaudits following those results.
However, it remains that the Red Devils have failed to win any of their last six matches in 90 minutes and they look woefully short in the betting at home to Saints.
Prior to the shoot-out success, Amorim’s men had lost to Tottenham, Bournemouth, Wolves and Newcastle and, while victory over the Gunners enthused United’s support, the performance was still pretty poor.
The expected goals total of the FA Cup third-round tie finished 3.14 to 0.27 in Arsenal’s favour, United gave up 26 shots on goal to the Londoners and Diogo Dalot’s second-half red card doesn’t fully mitigate those numbers.
Southampton are the Premier League’s bottom club, but they still look overpriced for a huge Old Trafford success.
United haven’t kept a clean sheet in any of their last 10 matches and it’s only one shutout in 13 games for the leaky Red Devils.
Saints are likely to be heading straight back to the Championship come the end of the Premier League campaign, but they have found the net in top-flight games against Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea this season.
The south coast side also scored in an EFL Cup tie with Liverpool and breaching a suspect United defence may not be as tricky as the prices suggest.
SOUTHAMPTON TO BEAT MANCHESTER UNITED
SOUTHAMPTON TO SCORE OVER 0.5 GOALS
Ipswich vs Brighton
Injuries haven’t helped Brighton this season, but it’s now seven top-flight matches without a win for the Seagulls and they are running into a battling Ipswich side at Portman Road.
The Tractor Boys have lost only two of their last six matches, they have beaten Wolves and Chelsea during that run, picked up a point against Fulham and only went down 1-0 to Arsenal.
Kieran McKenna’s men clearly still believe that they can avoid relegation back down to the Championship.
Albion have a class edge but, with injuries to key players narrowing the gap, Ipswich can avoid defeat in Suffolk.
IPSWICH OR DRAW DOUBLE CHANCE
