Manchester United welcome Burnley to Old Trafford in the Premier League this evening in what will be the final match played in 2021. It will be shown live in the United Kingdom on Amazon Prime, the second of two match weeks the company had bought in the last television rights auction. United drew 1-1 with Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Monday evening, which was considered a poor result based on the form of the Magpies and their position in the league table. Ralf Rangnick will need to get the best out of this team, which looks very hard at this time as any form they had before a 16-day break in matches seems to have gone.
United have lost just one of their last 13 Premier League matches against Burnley, winning eight and drawing four. The last defeat was in January 2020 with Burnley won 2-0. United will be seeking to end 2021 on a high, avoiding defeat in their last match of the year. This could be the tenth year in a row – they have won six and drawn three so far. Burnley have won six of their ten Premier League points against United at Old Trafford, which will lead to some confidence for them. This will be an important match for both teams with United looking to break into the top for and Burnley seeking to avoid a relegation battle this season.
Manchester United:
De Gea;
Wan-Bissaka, Bailly, Maguire, Shaw;
Greenwood, Matic, McTominay, Sancho;
Cavani, Ronaldo
Substitutes:
Henderson; Varane, Dalot, Telles; Lingard, Fred, Van de Beek; Rashford, Elanga
Burnley:
Hennessy;
Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor;
Gudmundsson, Westwood, Cork, McNeil;
Wood, Lennon
Substitutes:
Norris; Collins, Pieters, Bardsley, Thomas; Stephens; Vydra
United and Burnley have played a total of 14 matches in the history of the Premier League. United have won eight matches, drawing four with Burnley winning the remaining two matches. United have scored a total of 21 goals, winning four penalties and scoring two of them. Burnley have scored nine goals, winning no penalties. United have kept a total of eight clean sheets with Burnley keeping a total of four in these matches. United players have been shown a total of 25 yellow cards and two red cards with Burnley players shown a total of 36 yellow cards and no red cards. United should be winning this match.
There is much history between United and Burnley with no fewer than 15 players having played for both clubs. Phil Bardsley, Luke Chadwick, Andy Cole, John Connelly, Chris Eagles, Richard Eckersley, David Jones, Michael Keane, David May, Willie Morgan, John O’Kane, Mike Phelan, Lee Roche, Colin Waldron and John Walton have all played for both clubs. The more well known players on the list are Morgan who played for United from 1968 to 1975, Mike Phelan, current assistant who played for United from 1989 to 1994 and treble winners Andy Cole, who played for United from 1995 to 2001 and David May who played for United from 1994 until 2003.
Written by John Walker
