League Cup Odds: Hull’s Chances Slim vs Man U

Hull City (+500) vs Manchester United (-163), Draw (+330)

While Arsenal and Southampton battle in one League Cup semifinal, the other will see Hull City fighting a two-goal deficit against Manchester United on Thursday, January 26.

Hull have been fortunate to get this far in the League Cup and have had a relatively easy path until now. They had an impressive 2-1 victory against Stoke City in the third round, but other than that, they have had easy fixtures against Championship League opponents.

The opening game of their two-match semi against United resulted in an easy win for the Red Devils at Old Trafford. Even though United were sloppy at times and missed their share of goalscoring opportunities, Hull did not have the depth to take advantage of United’s errors.

The first half ended 0-0, with Wayne Rooney and Henrikh Mkhitaryan missing two golden opportunities to open the scoring. Hull City were denied by the goalpost on a set piece.

The second half was a different story. Juan Mata opened the scoring in the 56th minute and Manchester United controlled the game from then on. The Hull attack had been completely nullified by the time Marouane Fellaini sealed the win with a late goal in the 87th minute.

Now, in order to advance, Hull City will have to beat Manchester United by more than two goals. And to further complicate matters, they will have to deal with the Away Goals rule when it comes to goal difference.

This means that Hull will be forced to open themselves up and act as the aggressor, which is not a style of play they’re comfortable with. The relegation-threatened squad (currently 18th in the Premier League) have enough trouble as it is defending against top teams (45 goals against in 21 EPL matches). On top of that, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who missed the first leg for United, will be fit to play in the second leg. If United were too much without their top goalscorer, then the upcoming game is going to be even worse.

Manchester United have not lost a game since their Europa League loss in early November. It’s unlikely that their streak will end against Hull.

Pick: Manchester United (-163)

Photo credit: “Tigers Tamed” by Dom Felowes, CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Flickr.