I think United are just gonna edge this one, and take David Moyes a little bit closer to his first major trophy as a Manchester United manager. Upsets are commonplace in the cup however and I'll admit that I didn't see Sunderland pulling that result out of the bag yesterday. It proved that anything's possible in the cup. Stoke have actually been enjoying some good form recently under manager, and ex-United player, Mark Hughes; and with The Britannia Stadium establishing itself as somewhat of a fortress in recent seasons the Red Devils certainly have their work cut out for them tonight.
United's form on the other hand has been up and down. They've suffered a slow start domestically with 5 losses already this season. Yet they've done well in Europe and qualified as winners of their group, it seems consistency isn't something associated with United this year. Also with crucial injuries to Michael Carrick and Robin Van Persie that put them out of this fixture, the Potters may smell the blood in the water.
United did prove quite impressive though Sunday when they dismissed Paul Lambert's Aston Villa with relative ease to take 3 points on the road, and they'll definitely be looking to carry some of that momentum into tonight's game. Hughes's men are definitely no pushovers, United discovered this for themselves earlier in the season when they only narrowly beat them 3-2. Also in their last home game Stoke outplayed Mourinho's Chelsea to take 3 points in an incredible 3-2 victory of their own, so United can definitely not go into this game complacent. They have to give Stoke the respect they deserve.
With this in mind, I've decided to go for a correct score bet tonight, rather than an outright result. Once again with Betfair, I'm predicting United 2 - 1 Stoke 1 with odds at 15/2. I chose this because I feel this will be quite an open game with both teams scoring at least one, but I think United just have that killer instinct and vital cup experience to nick the result in 90 minutes. To add a little more excitement to my viewing tonight I've also put a bet on Danny Welbeck to score first at 6/1, so here's hoping at least one of them comes off!
Full report to follow the game and tweets to be posted throughout @SpencerFinchy.
The other quarter final is Tottenham vs West Ham (also kicking off at 19:45) and it will be interesting to see how interim manager Tim Sherwood deals with his squad after AVB's departure, best of luck to him!
Agree/disagree with my picks? Please let me know, and tell me if you've taken any punts on tonight's fixtures.
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