Can Mourinho’s Man United pull out of their current nosedive with a Champions League victory over Valencia, at 8pm on BT Sport 2?

There are, of course, teams doing worse than United. However, the Manchester side operate on a different set of base expectations than most clubs, and on those lines, the season is turning into a bit of a disaster. Their title chase is arguably already over, with the weekend’s 3-1 at West Ham leaving them in 10th place, closer to the relegation zone than the top of the table in terms of points. Worse than that, behind the scenes things appear to be toxic, with the relationship between Mourinho and Paul Pogba in tatters. There is the distinct whiff of Chelsea’s 2015/16, a season that saw the once Special One gone by Christmas.



Their European campaign at least got off to a decent start, United beating out of their depth Swiss champs Young Boys 3-0. In theory they’ll have a tougher challenge on Tuesday; however, Valencia’s recent run makes United’s look positively impressive. It took the Spaniards until last weekend to rack up their first win, a narrow 1-0 victory at Real Sociedad. Before that they’d managed 5 draws and a loss in La Liga, alongside a 2-0 defeat to Juventus in the Champions League.

As for Tuesday night, despite his form dropping off in the second half of September, Romelu Lukaku still has a hefty Super Mega PGM of 43-50. That puts him way ahead of his counterparts, with Kevin Gameiro and Michy Batshuayi at 16-20 apiece. It also looks like the hosts will get a bit of a breather from their breakdown, with Spreadex offering a Man United/Valencia Goal Supremacy spread of 0.65-0.85 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.55-2.75.

Before United try and avoid get things back on track, Man City look to rebound from their European blip when they travel to Hoffenheim at 5.55pm on BT Sport 3. Domestically Pep Guardiola’s guys have picked up where they left off last season. Currently in 1st place, they’ve picked up 19 points from a possible 21, the only duff mark oddly a 1-1 draw against Wolves. Even better, they’ve scored 21 while conceding just 3, with especially robust romps against Huddersfield and Cardiff. Unsurprisingly Oxford United proved to be little challenge in the EFL Cup either, City setting up a 4th round visit from Fulham with a 3-0 win.



Yet all this led to a lackadaisical showing in the Champions League a few weeks ago, In what should be an eminently winnable Group F, City ended up slumping to a 2-1 defeat at home to Lyon, going 2-0 down in the 1st half before pulling one back not too long after the hour mark.

City will be aiming to right this when they visit Hoffenheim, a side whose spotty Bundesliga form has them with 1 draw, 2 wins and 3 losses in their first half a dozen games. In Europe the German side did well enough, denied an away victory over Shaktar Donetsk thanks to an 81st minute equaliser from Maycon.

With Sergio Aguero at a Super Mega PGM of 67-77, and Gabriel Jesus at 56-64, there’s every chance of a rout on Tuesday night. Spreadex are offering a Man City/Hoffenheim (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 1.55-1.75 alongside a Total Goals spread of 3.55-3.75.