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they can't score gaals

Danny Higginbotham: People say Manchester United have not moved on from Louis van Gaal… but the players simply cannot score

SunSport's expert discusses shot-shy Red Devils, Leicester's woes minus N'Golo Kante and why Nigeria's loss is Chelsea's gain

SUNSPORT’S Danny Higginbotham gives his expert analysis on the weekend’s top-flight action...

Manchester United are still not finishing teams off.

In the last seven Premier League games they have scored more than one goal only once — at Swansea.

And the 1-1 draw with West Ham means they have ended up with one goal or fewer in the last six games at Old Trafford.

People are saying they have not moved on from when Louis van Gaal was in charge, but this isn’t anything you can put down to the manager.

Chances are being created and not being taken, it’s as simple as that. Yesterday they had 17 shots to West Ham’s six.

Opposition keepers are being inspired at Old Trafford, I agree with that, but United should still be finishing teams off.

It was a similar story in the draws with Burnley and Stoke and they could have been out of sight before Arsenal equalised late on last week.

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Middlesbrough’s second goal in the 2-2 draw with Leicester was the perfect example of how the Foxes are missing N’Golo Kante.

Last season teams found it really difficult to get in behind them when Kante was acting as a defensive shield in front of the back four.

With Kante now at Chelsea the centre-backs are getting caught out by balls over the top, as we saw with Alvaro Negredo for Boro.

Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the African Nations Cup is great news for Chelsea.

Victor Moses would have been away for a month or so in the New Year and he has become the unsung hero at Stamford Bridge this season.

He has become virtually irreplaceable, a key man for Antonio Conte’s side.

Crystal Palace need to sort out their defending as soon as possible, especially from set-pieces.

So far this season they have conceded 13 goals from set plays, including four in Saturday’s 5-4 defeat at Swansea.

That’s the highest in the Premier League and every time the opposition are awarded a free-kick or a corner they look like scoring.

Palace are also the only team without a clean sheet this term — proof of their problems.

Stoke are climbing up the table and keeper Lee Grant has played a big part in that.

In his eight Prem games since replacing Shay Given the Potters have let in just five goals.

He has waited a long time to be given this chance and taken it superbly, keeping three clean sheets and not conceding more than once in any game.

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