Man United v Norwich: The hosts can still be trusted to keep it clean

Man United 1.49 v Norwich 8.60; The Draw 4.70
Saturday, 15:00

Man United

There hasn't been a lot of warmth for Jose Mourinho around recently, but Louis van Gaal must be feeling plenty given how much the former Chelsea manager's latest ignominious week shifted the spotlight away from his five-match winless run.

Whereas the Portuguese coach rendered his position untenable by criticising players, ducking or derailing media briefings and sinking so low down the table, the supposedly abrasive Dutchman has been more loyal to his squad, fulfilled his commitments and is still just six points off the top.

Another valid excuse that Van Gaal can raise is the volume of absentees which forced him to deploy a back four of Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Daley Blind, Paddy McNair and Guillermo Varela at Bournemouth.

The prognosis is fairly grim again, with Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Antonio Valencia and Wayne Rooney out and Chris Smalling, Matteo Darmian, Ander Herrera and Jesse Lingard doubts.

Norwich

This is judgement day for this columnist's 6/1 tip on November 11 that Norwich would spend Christmas in the bottom three. They have since dropped from 15th to 18th to put the prediction on track, but there are four teams that Alex Neil's men are mathematically capable of overtaking.

The combination of the draws that they achieved against Liverpool and Arsenal and came fairly close to earning at Man City coupled with Man United's poor form and injury issues will ensure that they arrive at Old Trafford believing that some points are pocketable.

Norwich's treatment table is far less active than their hosts' too, with loanees Andre Wisdom and Matt Jarvis the only players expected to miss the fixture.

Match Odds

It is probably going to be a tough sell to convince you that a Man United side that haven't won in five games are worthy favourites at 1.49, yet the statistics do support their cause.

Though the Red Devils have drawn much more often than they will deem acceptable, they are unbeaten at home this season, winning over half of their Premier League assignments.

By contrast, Norwich have been nothing special on the road since promotion, with their sole top-flight triumph occurring on their maiden trip to a terribly out-of-sorts Sunderland. They havetravelled seven times since for a return of two points, losing four in a row most recently.

The head-to-head trends also heavily favour Man United, who have prevailed in ten of their last dozen showdowns, including each of the latest four, three of which were staged in the aftermath of Sir Alex Ferguson's largely landscape-altering retirement.

Man United Clean Sheet

Norwich haven't scored in four visits to Old Trafford and lost the latter trio 4-0, while the fact that two of those thrashings were handed out by XIs sent out by David Moyes and Ryan Giggs shows that this was no Fergie phenomenon.

The Canaries started the campaign quite sharply, but are currently enduring a sequence of four goals in seven league encounters, firing blanks in the previous two away ones against Watford and Chelsea teams a distance below the 20-time champions in the table.

Whatever their faults, Man United definitely retain the ability to shut out an attack in front of their increasingly disgruntled fans, doing so in six successive contests. Indeed, the only goal that they have conceded in nine as hosts came against Champions League conquerors Wolfsburg. The sole domestic leak in nine 2015/16 outings was Christian Benteke's Liverpool wonder goal.

Recommended Bet:

Back Man United to keep a clean sheet @ 2.02