United’s Toughest Test at Stoke
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You must go back to the 2012/13 season to find the last time Manchester United won the Premier League title.
Since then, the Red Devils have found life tough in the Premier League and the club have never really recovered following the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson. In the four seasons following his retirement, Manchester United have finished seventh, fourth, fifth and sixth.
Last season, under the guidance of Jose Mourinho, Manchester United were expected to challenge at the top of the Premier League table but a strong challenge failed to materialise. Instead they were forced to settle for sixth place and a Europa League win, which was enough to send them into the Champions League.
This season, Manchester United look like a team determined to do well in the Premier League and this match at Stoke City, will be a real test of their title credentials.
Stoke finished thirteenth last season, which was their worst Premier League finish in four years. The Potters are an established Premier League team and will be hoping to move back into the top half of the table this season.
They start this match in eleventh place having recorded an excellent 1-0 victory over Arsenal followed by a hard-earned point at West Bromwich Albion.
Trends show Stoke have won only three of their previous fourteen Premier League games and they must start picking up wins more regularly, if they are to avoid a potential battle in the bottom half of the Premier League table.
However, at home they can be tough to beat and Stoke have lost only three of their last fourteen home league games. They have failed to score in just one of their last twelve at the Bet365 Stadium.
Manchester United travel to Stoke having won all three of their Premier League games this season. Not only have they scored 10 goals in those three games, they are also yet to concede a goal.
Trends show Manchester United have managed to keep a clean sheet in their last five league games and have lost only two of their last thirty-two matches in the Premier League, making them extremely difficult to beat.
Away from home, there have been just two defeats in their last fifteen league games and those came at Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur last season, when they were focusing more on the Europa League.
Looking at the potential team news and Stoke are likely to continue with Eric Choupo-Moting and Jese in attack, who have both done well since joining the club. Joe Allen and Darren Fletcher should start in central midfield.
Jose Mourinho will be reluctant to make many changes to his starting XI and the only position which is seemingly up for grabs is in attack. The Portuguese must choose between Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford.
You must go back to 2013 to find the last time Manchester United won at Stoke in the Premier League but that could be about to change. This looks like a different Manchester United team to what we have seen in recent seasons and they could win this game by a narrow margin, keeping a clean sheet in the process.
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