Kick-off: 2000, 28/01/2023
Stadium: Old Trafford
TV: ITV4
Manchester United have all but booked one trip to Wembley this season in the EFL Cup and can march on in the FA Cup by easing past Reading.
These teams have met twice in this competition since the Royals were last a Premier League club, with United prevailing 4-0 in 2017 and 2-0 four years ago.
This time, we’re taking 23/20 for a home win and under 3.5 goals as our opening Man Utd vs Reading prediction.
Manchester United Odds
United put a couple of Premier League setbacks behind them when powering to a 3-0 victory at Nottingham Forest in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final.
Marcus Rashford scored for the 10th time in 10 games since the World Cup to give the Red Devils an early advantage.
Wout Weghorst’s first goal for the club and a late strike by Bruno Fernandes helped boost hopes of ending a six-year trophy drought.
Defender Lisandro Martinez told Sky Sports: “I am proud of this team. We lose the last game, so we have to put the chest out and the team did it.
“We know it is a good result for us but we have to go step by step. Now we have another game and we have to prepare.”
Erik ten Hag fielded a full-strength team for that match and can now juggle making changes between this tie and next Wednesday’s second leg versus Forest.
Exciting young winger Alejandro Garnacho is one of the players who could come in here and 4/1 for him to open the scoring appeals from the Man Utd vs Reading odds.
Reading Odds
Reading are a decent mid-table Championship outfit and manager Paul Ince will be keen to do well against the club he won two FA Cup winner’s medals with.
The Royals enjoyed a 2-0 home win over Watford in round three, but a couple of factors make them hard to fancy at Old Trafford.
Ince’s side have lost a division-high 10 games on the road this term and they are coming off a 4-0 drubbing at Stoke.
The 602 fans in the away end had little to cheer about on a miserable afternoon in the Potteries.
Ince said: “I’m so disappointed – we just didn’t compete and it was a bad day for us.
“It wasn’t that they cut us open; we’ve lost three goals from defensive mistakes.
“We have to cut out the stupid schoolboy mistakes and defensively we were diabolical. At half-time, I could have taken everybody off.
“Some of the things these players are doing baffles me, especially when we’re away. I hope this acts as a wake-up call and a kick up the backside.”
Reading will be cheered on by a much-larger travelling support for this high-profile cup tie and Ince will no doubt adopt a more pragmatic approach.
Let’s add 23/10 for the hosts to be just 1-0 ahead at half-time to our Man Utd vs Reading betting tips.
Additional stats
Last result:
Forest 0-3 MAN UTD – Marcus Rashford, Wout Weghorst, Bruno Fernandes
Stoke 4-0 READING
Head-to-head: Man Utd 2-0 Reading, Man Utd 4-0 Reading
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