Gary Neville has predicted Manchester United will beat Leeds in the 'Roses derby' following Lisandro Martinez's extraordinary outburst during a turbulent week at the club.
United head into the clash at Elland Road on the back of a 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday night, which extended their winless run to five games across all competitions.
Martinez's criticism and apology
After the defeat, Martinez launched a stinging attack on the club's hierarchy and his team-mates. The defender was critical of the Man United board, namely director of football Jason Wilcox, for a lack of investment in the playing squad during the summer transfer window.
Martinez then doubled down on his comments on social media before apologising on Thursday after a meeting with Michael Carrick and club secretary Omar Berrada.
Neville's prediction
Despite the turmoil, the Argentina international starts for United against Leeds, surviving the two changes Carrick has made to the side that started in the Spanish capital.
Neville, who will be on co-commentary duty for Sky Sports at Elland Road, believes Martinez's comments will have galvanised the Man United squad in a positive way and has backed his former club to pick up all three points.
“I actually think Manchester United are going to win, maybe that’s just blind faith,” Neville said. “I think what Martinez did during the week, I think they will have had a serious team meeting.
“I think they would have said ‘this is it now’, it should have happened last weekend against Tottenham when they came back off the international break.
“That was when we should have seen a response after the Fulham game but we didn’t.
“I think we may see the response today after what has happened in midweek and if they play like they did in midweek against Atletico Madrid, they probably will win here [Elland Road] today because that was a decent performance and Atletico Madrid, I think, are a better team that Leeds.”
