Cole makes Man Utd vs ‘absolutely devastated’ Everton prediction; gives Fernandes captain verdict

Andy Cole thinks if Manchester United get a draw against “absolutely devastated” Everton at the weekend then it will be a “good result”.

The Red Devils travel to Goodison Park in a 4.30pm kick-off in the Premier League on Sunday with Everton reeling from their ten point deduction after being punished for breaking the league’s financial rules.

Everton dropped to 19th in the Premier League table following the punishment with Sheffield United and Luton Town moving above them in the table.

Despite putting in a number of poor performances, Man Utd are the most in-form team in the Premier League over the last five matches with 12 points from a possible 15.

But Cole thinks the points deduction could galvanise Everton on Sunday with the former Man Utd predicting a draw as a good result for the away side.

Cole told Betfred: “This will be a really tough game for Manchester United. I think Everton are going to be really galvanised and they’ll want to respond positively after they were handed the points deduction. They know that they need to win games to get themselves out of the bottom three.

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“Despite the victory, it wasn’t an easy game for Manchester United last season and if they can come away from Sunday’s game with a draw, then I’d take that all day long.

“Everton will be absolutely devastated that they were deducted ten points, but they’re in good form and Sean Dyche has got them going. Manchester United have been very unpredictable so far and if they can come away from the game with a draw, then that would be a good result in my opinion.”

With Man Utd underperforming this season, Bruno Fernandes has come in for criticism as captain with Roy Keane and others claiming he was the wrong choice as skipper.

On whether Fernandes is the right man for the captaincy, Cole added: “First and foremost, captains now are different to captains in my day and they lead in a different way. If you look at all the captains in the Premier League currently, how many of them share characteristics with captains from ten or twenty years ago? Not many do.

“There’s talk about Bruno Fernandes not being the right choice for captain, but if you look around the Manchester United dressing room currently, then who else would you give the captaincy to instead? There’s not four or five standout contenders.

“When I was at the club, you could have possibly given the captaincy to Jaap [Stam], Denis [Irwin], Peter [Schmeichel], Giggsy (Ryan Giggs) or Scholesy (Paul Scholes). There were so many options back then but nowadays, players are different and lead in a different way. Bruno leads in a different way and I understand it.

“I can also understand that people don’t want to see a captain waving his arms about in frustration, which I personally believe is disrespectful to his teammates, but at this moment in time, he’s the man and he will captain the side in a way which he believes is beneficial to himself and his teammates.”