It is very well known in the general media, social media, and anyone who vaguely follows Manchester United and the Premier League that Erik ten Hag’s team concede a lot of shots on their goal.

Records have been broken in many ways recently about the number of times certain teams have shot at Andre Onana in the goal, and the number of touches that teams have had in the box against Man Utd as well.

The good news for Coventry is that they absolutely have the creative wherewithal and the cutting edge at the top of the pitch to take advantage of that if United are similarly profligate against them.

Indeed, Man Utd have the second worst expected goals against (xGA) in the Premier League. To put this into context, this is worse than Burnley and alongside rock-bottom Sheffield United.

Meanwhile, Coventry are fifth best for expected goals for (xGF) in the Championship. This is only behind the elite four in the Championship, and puts into data the sentiments expressed above. Coventry are a real threat to Man Utd here.

The issue for both teams is that, obviously, the opposite is also true. Coventry have moments of real sloppiness at the back, whilst Man Utd are capable of sublime moments of quality and retain that veneer of a big time set of players, as demonstrated in the Sixth Round against Liverpool.

Either way, goals look to be on the agenda here, and there is enough evidence in the data to not feel confident in Manchester United at an odds-on price.

There could easily be a lot of shots in this match once the pattern is established after a likely tentative opening for both sides.

Bruno Fernandes is going to feel the responsibility of getting Man Utd into another major cup final. He has a high shot volume in general, especially being on penalties and some free-kicks as well, but he is the type of player who can try and do perhaps a little too much in the aim of dragging his team over the line.

His last few league match shot totals have read 3,2,5,3,5,0 (Man City), 5,5. Taking the Manchester City match out of the equation, Bruno has hit at least three shots in six of this last seven matches. He is also pretty certain to play the full match as well, unless Man Utd are very comfortable, in which case, Bruno is fairly likely to have contributed to that anyway.

There has been lots of praise over Kobbie Mainoo in the media since his breakthrough into the Man Utd team this season. It would be fair to say that he is already one of Man Utd’s key players and Erik ten Hag relies on him to do a lot of key wor in the midfield.

One of Mainoo’s underrated attributes is his ability to move with the ball. He doesn’t over-do it but he is capable of inviting pressure whilst on the ball and taking collisions, being fouled on a regular basis in recent matches.

Mainoo has been fouled at least once in each of his last seven matches, twice in three of those seven, so his price in this market is surprisingly big.

From a Coventry perspective, it has been pleasing to see the resurgence of Kasey Palmer this season. The former Chelsea youth star has played for almost half of the Championship when he arrived at Coventry, but he showed flashes of good form before solidifying his place this season.

His size and skill has made him a key weapon for Coventry, and a key man to stop for opponents. He is Coventry’s most regularly fouled player, and Man Utd are likely to use physical tactics to stop him too.

We have discussed Haji Wright’s threat already, but he may also be a threat to the health of the Man Utd defenders.

The big American is a prolific fouler, going along at around two fouls per 90, and he has managed to commit seven fouls across his last two matches as well.

The combination of his aerial threat and his clumsy pressing is what makes him such a regular victim of the referee’s whistle.

If Willy Kambwala makes another start for Man Utd he is a generous price for at least one foul. He has managed three in his last two starts and being in the vicinity of physical strikers such as Ellis Simms and Wright, there are likely to be battles that get pinged by the referee in which Kambwala will come out the wrong side of at least once.