Manchester United are expected to defend their two-goal lead when they face Hull City at KC Stadium in the second leg of the League Cup semi-final on Thursday. Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini scored to give Manchester United a solid 2-0 victory in the first leg, their second victory of the season over Hull City after the 1-0 away Premier League win. Manchester United have won nine of the last ten meetings against the Tigers, who only managed to avoid defeat with a goalless draw in 2015.
The League Cup is probably one of the last worries for Hull City, they are struggling to avoid relegation from the Premier League and they still have a very long list of injured players. The have won just two of their last eleven competitive matches, both victories at home. Liverpool's Lazar Markovic joined them on loan until the end of the season but he will most likely start on the bench on Thursday. Ryan Mason, Curtis Davies and Robert Snodgrass are the most recent addition to the injured list, while Ahmed Elmohamady and Dieumerci Mbokani are away on international duty.
Manchester United have not lost a match since the start of November, that's a run of 17 games, but they have recorded back-to-back 1-1 draws in the Premier League. Both those matches could have ended in defeat, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic bagged a late goal to deny Liverpool, while last weekend Wayne Rooney scored a superb free-kick goal to make it all square against Stoke City. Manager Jose Mourinho doesn't have any injury concerns ahead of this match, the only absence is that of Eric Bailly due to his presence at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Probable line-ups:
Hull: Marshall - Maguire, Dawson, Davies - Elabdellaoui, Clucas, Huddlestone, Robertson - Snodgrass, Evandro - Hernandez
Man United: De Gea - Valencia, Jones, Rojo, Darmian - Carrick, Herrera - Mkhitaryan, Pogba, Martial - Ibrahimovic
My prediction: Manchester United to win 2-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Hull win - 7.00
Draw - 4.33
Man United win - 1.53
02/13/17, 02:02:57 AM
