League Cup preview and odds: Manchester United vs Hull City

Published on: 09/01/2017

League Cup preview and odds: Manchester United vs Hull City

January 09, 2016 20:00pm - Old Trafford

League Cup- Semi-final, First Leg

In-form Manchester United will look to build on their comfortable FA Cup triumph over Reading when they line up against Premier League strugglers Hull City in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final. The visitors themselves could give their miserable season a boost by toppling the four-time former winners.

United unbeaten at last 14 matches

Following last weekend`s FA Cup action, the attention now turns back to the English League Cup where the final four teams will battle it out for a place in the Wembley final. First up on Tuesday night is the clash between Manchester United and Hull City, with the first leg being staged at Old Trafford.

The Red Devils will be full of confidence going into this game, having remained unbeaten in their last 14 matches in all competitions. In addition, they have also gone unbeaten in their last 14 on home soil, their last defeat coming against their city rivals back in September.

Despite United`s grand stature, this competition has not always been a happy hunting ground for the men in red. They last won the competition in 2010 (for only the fourth time) and have since exited to the likes of West Ham United, Crystal Palace, Sunderland, MK Dons and Middlesbrough.

Jose Mourinho`s men come into this game on the back of a 4-0 win over Reading in the third round of the FA Cup and have now won their last eight matches in a row.

Meanwhile, by reaching the semi-finals, Hull City have already beaten their previous best performance in this competition (a quarter-final appearance last season). New boss Marco Silva will now be tasked with leading them to their first major final since 2014, when they reached the final of the FA Cup.

The Tigers began life under the Portuguese coach in positive fashion by beating fellow strugglers Swansea City 2-0 at home in the FA Cup third round. That game marked Hull`s first clean sheet in 23 matches and also saw 17-year-old Local lad Josh Tymon score his first senior goal for the club.

Team news

With a place in the final at stake, the home side can be expected to send out a strong XI for this clash. However, they will have to make do without the injured pair of Marcos Rojo and James Wilson, while Luke Shaw is still lacking match fitness and Eric Bailly has travelled to the African Cup of Nations.

Meanwhile, the visitors have significant injury issues with Curtis Davis, Harry Maguire, Will Keane, Greg Luer, Brian Lenihan, Moses Odubajo and Alex Bruce all out of action, while Dieumerci Mbokani and Ahmed Elmohamady are both away of African Cup of Nations duty.

Recent form (League):

Manchester United: WWWWW

Hull City: WLDLL

Betting odds and tips

Marco Silva has already made an impact at Hull but his options will be limited with a large number of players missing from his squad. Hulls priority will be to keep themselves in with a chance going into the second leg at the KCOM in two weeks time.

With Hull already showing defensive improvements, United may have to bide their time in this match but they should have the quality to come out on top. With prices so short on the home side, bettors may struggle to find any value bets in the game but the 10/3 available on the home side winning by a single goal looks tempting for a small stake.

You can back Manchester United to win by one goal at 10/3 with Bet365.

By Neil Morris

Published on: 09/01/2017

Any odds displayed within this preview were correct at the time of publishing (09/01/2017 10:21:29) but are subject to change.