Manchester United vs Burnley 23/01/20

23 January 2020

Manchester United will take on Burnley at Old Trafford this midweek, desperate to get their tenth Premier League (PL) victory of the season.

The hosts have endured mixed fortunes in their previous six league matches (W3, L3), with each of their three defeats in that period coming away from home and seeing United go down 2-0, including a loss at Liverpool last weekend. Things look slightly better for the Red Devils when they are at home. Indeed, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men have racked up a nine-game unbeaten PL run at Old Trafford (W5, D4), with three of those four wins coming via a multiple-goal margin. Such form could serve as an encouragement for United to put an end to their frustrating three-game winless run in PL home H2Hs with Burnley (D3) and potentially reduce a five-point gap on fourth-placed Chelsea. They can also draw inspiration from the fact they’ve not lost a single top-flight meeting with Burnley since 2009, picking up six wins in ten PL H2Hs since (D4).

Meanwhile, a 2-1 home triumph over Leicester at the weekend has halted Burnley’s four-game PL losing streak, as the visitors extended the gap on relegation-threatened Aston Villa to five points. Moreover, the abovementioned success also means that none of Burnley’s last 16 PL matches has ended in a draw (W6, L10). Notably, 43% of those results (win/loss) during that 16-game sequence have come via a single-goal margin, with 62.5% of them seeing the winners on the day keep a blank sheet. Therefore, the Clarets’ hopes of avoiding defeat here could suffer a blow should they concede the first goal. In fact, Sean Dyche’s players have returned only two points from seven PL away games where they’ve shipped the opening goal (D2, L5).