Former France international striker Louis Saha is backing Manchester United to finish the season on a high by beating Chelsea in the FA Cup final at Wembley. 

Saha played for Manchester United between 2004 and 2008, winning two Premier League titles, a Champions League crown and a League Cup – and so he is well placed to comment on lifting silverware.

A star-studded career has seen Saha, once dubbed by Wayne Rooney as the best striking partner he ever played alongside at Old Trafford, play for a host of top-flight clubs including Fulham, Newcastle, Everton, Tottenham, Sunderland and Lazio. 

On Thursday Saha attended the Yahoo Sports Technology Awards in Camden, where he predicted it will be Manchester United and Jose Mourinho celebrating at Wembley in May.   

“Yes, I think Manchester United will win the FA Cup,” said Saha. “They have the knowledge of winning this competition and are just very well prepared. Mourinho is a great tactician and he will make sure they prepare to win in the right way.”

Saha also signalled out powerful French midfielder Paul Pogba as the key to Manchester United’s chances of winning at Wembley. 

“Of course, there is a lot of pressure because of the transfer fee, but Pogba doesn't need to score every time he plays,” he added.

“He needs to complement the rest of the team and sometimes he has a more defensive focus. Look at Steven Gerrard, now he was defensive but still found a way to break through and score goals, and maybe that is what Pogba needs to grow into.”

Last night the winners of the 2018 Yahoo Sports Technology Awards were revealed in a ceremony attended by industry leaders and elite athletes. 

The event, which has been dubbed ‘The Oscars of Sports Technology’ once again proved its global status with international brands outscoring UK domestic talent by 2:1.

The Awards, which celebrates tech-led innovations across all sports, attracts entries from over 30 countries representing 50 sports, in 15 categories which are reviewed by 32 leading industry-figures spanning players, athletes, sports governance and business visionaries.  

And Saha was on hand to watch the awards, citing improvements in technology as crucial in the development of football over the coming years. 

“Technology is very important to me, so I really wanted to support this,” said Saha. 

“You see in football now that there are changes and with VAR coming in it is a good thing.

“My time playing wasn’t to have VAR, but now there is and it will benefit the game because VAR needs to be around. 

“It makes it fair. It is good for the people who are working hard every day in training and putting in the extra effort, it’s for the goalkeeper who is rolling around on the floor every day and it is not fair on him for a game to be decided by a poor referring decision. 

“VAR is great for the guys who are putting effort in on the training field.”
Saha also predicted his former club Fulham can win promotion this weekend – the West London club need to win at Birmingham on Sunday and hope Cardiff slip to win promotion back to the Premier League. 

“Yes, I do have good memories of Fulham and I still know people at the club so of course I want them to do well and I hope they can get promoted to the Premier League,” he added. 

“Fulham can definitely do it and they will only be thinking about the game on Sunday, they won’t be worrying about the play-offs. 

“But they have a great side. I particularly like [Ryan] Sessegnon of course, but also [Aleksandar] Mitrovic has come in and has really made a difference for them. 

“It was such a fun team at Fulham. I always knew when I was playing or training that I was going to do something fun. Sure, I left Fulham because I wanted to win trophies, but it was the place I had the most fun for sure.”