Charlie Nicholas: Middlesbrough to beat Man United


In his latest sportinglife.com column, Charlie Nicholas backs Middlesbrough to beat Manchester United after parting company with Aitor Karanka.

Middlesbrough are a team in desperate need of a win but I believe they can put a big dent in Manchester United's top-four hopes now Aitor Karanka has left.

He suffocated them and they should be sat in the middle of the table given the ability in their squad. 

They are solid at the back and decent in midfield but Karanka refused to believe in his players' abilities and shackled them in his rigid system.

Gaston Ramirez, Alvaro Negredo and Adama Traore are all talented attacking players. He brought in Rudy Gestede, who is a Championship player but can make an impact.

Unfortunately, the best chairman in the business, Steve Gibson, has been forced into a decision, one that he had to take by Karanka falling out with the players. 

Boro are also facing Manchester United at the perfect time, with Jose Mourinho back in a bad mood because of his players’ behaviour.

They’ve got a lot of games and a lot of players who aren’t firing, with Paul Pogba one of them. It will be interesting to see if they improve without him. 

This might be a big squad but that doesn’t mean it’s a great one. There's a lot of players that Mourinho still doesn't trust. 

I fancy Middlesbrough to come away with a win and potentially get themselves out of the bottom three. 

Charlie predicts: Middlesbrough to win 2-1 - 16/1 with Sky Bet

I also think Tottenham could struggle against Southampton. No matter how you look at it, it's going to be tough without Harry Kane.

Will Mauricio Pochettino go with Vincent Janssen? I don't think he has confidence in him still and I think Heung-Min Son will come central.

Southampton are a good side now they've got a goalscorer and their centre-defence partnership is their weakness, so it's an even bigger miss not having Kane available to exploit that.

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