Four Premier League teams are in Carabao Cup action on Wednesday night and all should cruise through to the next round – even Manchester United.
The Reds have spent more than £200million during the summer to beef up an attack which was strictly below-par last season but it has yet to score a goal in the two matches United have played so far.
There have been promising signs for Ruben Amorim to expand on during media briefings but his forwards have yet to click into gear and a trip to Grimsby’s Blundell Park should be just the tonic.
The League Two side gained the box-office draw after beating Shrewsbury 3-1 in the first round and the Mariners have enjoyed plain sailing in their division with wins against Crawley and Newport at home and away to Walsall plus draws at Harrogate and Accrington.
It leaves them in fourth place in the table, unbeaten in six games in all competitions and eyeing the chance to give one of the biggest clubs in the game a run for their money.
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United lost 1-0 in their top-flight curtain-raiser against Arsenal at Old Trafford but deserved at least a point against the Gunners, who subsequently smashed Leeds United 5-0 at the Emirates on Saturday, and they then drew 1-1 with Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday.
That performance was a funny one as it could have been so different if Bruno Fernandes had not smashed his first-half penalty into orbit while United’s 58th-minute opener was an own goal from Rodrigo Muniz, who deflected in a Leny Yoro header after he appeared to use both hands to push the luckless Calvin Bassey in the back.
It would be a major shock if Ruben Amorim didn’t make extensive changes to the Europa League runners-up but he will still field a strong unit with the chance to win silverware in the first final of the new season paramount in his thoughts.
Benjamin Sesko, a £66million signing from RB Leipzig a few weeks ago, has started both United’s matches on the bench and has entered the action midway through the second half.
Carabao Cup odds
He is likely to start against Grimsby and is 3/1 with Ladbrokes, Coral and many others to open the scoring and 4/5 with Unibet and BetMGM to hit the net at any time.
United are 6/5 with those two companies and bet365 to win by over 2.5 goals and can be put in an acca with Everton, Fulham and Brighton who should win by more than one goal against Football League opposition.
US Open tennis odds
Jack Draper is recovering from an arm injury, and also had to battle sickness which saw him vomit on court in his opening win over Federico Agustín Gomez, and may struggle to go deep into the US Open in New York.
The British No.1 faces Zizou Bergs in a second-round showdown and the Belgian, ranked 48 in the world, is 11/10 with William Hill to win with a 2.5 set advantage in their handicap market.
Emma Raducanu is 5/6 with bet365 to win her women’s singles match with Janice Tjen in straight sets.
Cricket odds
Trent Rockets are 8/11 with William Hill to beat Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred and Ben Duckett is 11/2 with Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet to be the top scorer.
