Prediction: Manchester United vs Everton

Manchester United will be desperate for another morale-boosting victory when they host Everton at Old Trafford, having somehow managed to recover from the Leicester defeat and beat West Ham last weekend. The Toffees will be buoyed by the late equalizer in the Merseyside derby and hopeful of exploiting numerous weaknesses in the Red Devils defence.

Louis van Gaal is paying the price for refusing to address the biggest issue in the summer transfer window, signing only wide players rather than centre-backs while splashing the cash on attack-minded players Falcao and Di Maria. And while the duo has largely impressed since arriving at Old Trafford, just like Daley Blind and Ander Herrera, they just couldn’t help the team score as many goals as they needed to in order to compensate for some shocking defensive displays. The 5-3 defeat to Leicester, when United allowed the opposition to score four second-half goals after they had taken a 3-1 lead, was a perfect proof of team’s defensive frailties, with numerous injuries to first team defenders certainly not helping. And even if youngsters McNair and Blackett has shown a great deal of promise, the Red Devils will find it hard to contain players like Lukaku, Naismith and McGeady in the high-profile clash against Everton. And with captain Wayne Rooney suspended for three games following the tackle on Stewart Downing, Manchester United face an uphill task against improving Toffees. Having been called for Euro 2016 qualifiers by the Belgium boss, Marouane Fellaini could return into contention, but Herrera, Carrick, Evans, Smalling and Young remain on the sidelines.

Similar to their next opposition, Everton have committed plenty of defensive mistakes this season, but the team are slowly returning to the right track and looking much better at the back at the moment. Several injuries to important players as well as the busy schedule seem to have prevented the Toffees from hitting the ground running early on, but judging by the quality and experience they possess, it is only a matter of time before Roberto Martinez’s charges come good. Everton produced a good performance last weekend in the Merseyside derby and the late equalizer appeared to be the just reward for their efforts, while the much changed side looked good in the Europa Legaue clash against FK Krasnodar in midweek. This is enough to suggest the Toffees are slowly raising their form and they will certainly see their chance to record an important victory when they face injury-hit Manchester United at Old Trafford. Chances are the visitors will struggle to contain the likes of Di Maria, Van Persie and Falcao, meaning we should see quite a few goals in what should be an end-to-end game in Manchester. Ross Barkley, Seamus Coleman and Kevin Mirallas are out injured, but James McCarthy should return.

Conclusion

A narrow win over West Ham cannot change the fact that Manchester United are extremely weak at the back and desperately lack balance in the side, so I can definitely see Everton coming away with something from this match. However, with the Toffees coming back off a long trip to Russia in midweek, backing both teams to score looks a safer option here.

Verdict: Both teams to score

Best Odds: 5/8

Bookmaker: bet365