Erik Ten Hag shocked many by naming a strong team in his sides League Cup semi final second leg with Nottingham Forest. Manchester United had all but secured their place in the League Cup final but the Dutch manager spoke about keeping the momentum going.

United are on a run of 12 straight victories at Old Trafford; the longest in a single season since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson. While there is still a long way to go in the revival of the red half of Manchester, there are certainly signs of encouragement.

Crystal Palace pegged United back late on to earn a point when they hosted them at Selhurst Park. United’s busy fixture schedule meant they looked tired late on but they face a tougher test at Old Trafford.

On their run of 12 straight home victories in all competitions, United have won 10 of those by a margin of two goals or more. Only West Ham and Manchester City would have prevented today’s handicap bet from landing. Over this period, United are averaging 2.58 goals per game. Their opponents average just 0.42.

Crystal Palace have won just two of their nine league away games this season. However, they have been reasonably solid defensively. Only Everton and Manchester City have beaten them by a margin of two goals or more but several of their opponents have been out of form. This certainly doesn’t apply to United going into this weekend’s match.

Aston Villa had a slow start to the season under Steven Gerrard. They have a squad that is blessed with talent but have been unable to utilise their quality to maximum effect. Unai Emery has come in and results have improved. The Villains have lost just one of his seven league matches in charge and have won five matches over that period.

Villa have been eliminated from both domestic cups, so the focus is entirely on the league. The club harboured ambitions of qualifying for Europe prior to this season. The slow start will likely prove to be costly, but a strong finish would lay the foundations ahead of next season. Emery’s side are currently in 11th place, and they could overtake Chelsea, Liverpool and Brentford this weekend if results go their way.

Barring a run of three away victories before the start of the World Cup, Leicester’s away form has been poor. They have lost their seven other matches on the road and were beaten 2-0 by Nottingham Forest in their last away league match. Leicester’s opponents away from home, excluding that run of three wins, are scoring an average of 3.29 goals per game.

Since the domestic season resumed, Rodgers’ side have earned just one point from their five league matches. Over this period, they are averaging just 0.6 goals per game. Their opponents are averaging two. Moreover, this Villa side beat the Foxes 2-1 at this ground last season.

A battle between two of the south coast sides takes place at the AMEX Stadium on Saturday afternoon, as Brighton host Bournemouth. The home side have been in blistering form of late and goals, goals, goals have been the theme during this time. Roberto De Zerbi has taken the Seagulls to the next level recently and the impact it’s had on results has been nothing short of sensational. Most recently, we saw Brighton knock Liverpool out of the FA Cup last weekend, sweeping aside the Reds with a 2-1 victory. Yet again, it was Kaoru Mitoma making all the headlines, the Japanese international notched a fantastically taken stoppage time winner to secure their 5th round berth.

The Cherries come into this one off the back of a 2 week break having already been dumped out of the FA Cup. They’ve also endured a torrid run in the Premier League having only won 1 of their previous 10 in the competition. They’ll no doubt be hoping their January acquisitions can have an impact moving forward, the stand out signings of Dango Outtara (Lorient), Antoine Semenyo (Bristol City) and Hamed Traore (Loan – Sassuolo) can help move them above the relegation zone.

It’s now 4 wins in their previous 5 for the home side in all competitions, where they have averaged a whopping 3.2 GpG in this time. I feel this particular fixture is a perfect opportunity to maintain this solid run of form and I’m expecting a comfortable home victory. A couple of players who have caught my eye within this time are youngster Evan Ferguson and the previously mentioned Kaoru Mitoma. The Irish international coincidentally is a doubt for this one having picked up an ankle injury but reports suggest he may still make the starting XI. Since breaking into the first team he’s been nothing short of superb, a New Year’s Eve goal in the home game against Arsenal, followed up with a goal and an assist in the following fixture at Everton has catapulted him into De Zerbi’s starting line-up. In total he’s accrued 3 goals and 2 assists in his previous 6, on each occasion he has not completed the 90 minutes which make these statistics even more impressive! A quick word on Mitoma, well he’s also been in and amongst the action, the midfielder has bagged 4 goals and had 1 assist in his last 6. Not only this, his overall performances within this time have been fantastic, I feel he may well be the answer yet again to helping the Seagulls pick up 3 more points here.

A final couple of stats I’ve cherry picked when crunching the numbers are that Brighton are now the 4th highest scoring team in the Premier League. They’ve scored 37 in total, averaging 1.95 goals per game whereas their opponents are one of the poorest defensively, conceding 42 in total, an average of 2.1 goals conceded per game. These eye catching numbers bode extremely well in relation to our selection here and I’m confident we can land this!

Bournemouth arrive here in desperate need of points but it’s something I do not see happening. They’ve now lost 8 of their last 10 games in the Premier League, shipping multiple goals in 7 of these defeats. Their most recent 5 away trips have all ended in losses, seeing them on the scoresheet on just 1 occasion within this time. Gary O’Neil certainly has a job on his hands to try to keep his side in the Premier League but it’s an achievable target with the teams around them so tightly packed.

Quite worryingly they’re set to be without 6 of their first team players for this one too. David Brooks, Junior Stanislas, Ryan Fredericks, Marcus Tavernier, Dominic Solanke and Lewis Cook are all sidelined! On top of this, the influential Phillip Billing is a major doubt having struggled to shake off a muscle injury. With all this taken into account, I find it hard to envisage the visitors being able to pick up anything at all from this game. With numerous additions to the squad in January as I touched on earlier, it’s never easy for them all to hit the ground running. There’s some excellent talent that’s been brought in but to make the instant impact needed will be another story. I feel it will take a monumental effort from the Cherries here to attain even a draw, never mind a win. The formbook does them no favours whatsoever and with the injury list as it is, a home win seems on the cards!

This is a really strong fancy of mine for this weekend, I’m very optimistic about this, so back Brighton and over 1.5 goals and we should have an excellent run for our money!