"With United not pulling up any trees at the moment, Leicester can battle their way to an important point."

Back The Draw at 3.95
Leicester v Man Utd
Sunday 05 February, 16:00
Live on Sky Sports

Leicester

Those seemingly fanciful wisecracks about Leicester having the potential to go from winning the Premier League one season to being relegated the next don't look so daft now.

The Foxes languish in 16th and are just two points above the drop zone. They trade at just 5.20 in the relegation market having been nearer 50/1 earlier in the season.

On away form, they've absolutely had it. Claudio Ranieri's men have taken just three points from a possible 36 and are yet to win on their travels.

Any ideas that it was due to a ghastly early fixture list which saw them visit Anfield, Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and White Hart Lane before October was out don't cut it now as they've remained woeful since.

Home form does offer hope though. They won all three Champions League games at the King Power and also smashed Manchester City, winning 4-2 after leading 4-0.

However, since Christmas Day, they've lost two out of the last three to Everton and Chelsea (forgivable) so confidence has been further sapped.

They go into this one on the back of three losses and a 2-2 FA Cup draw with Derby.

Man Utd

United's season appears to have played out in sequences.

A fast start, a wobble, a return to form, a sticky patch, a Mourinho-like run of nine straight wins and now another splutter.

Since making up ground on the top five, they've stalled with draws in each of their last three Premier League matches.

United needed late goals to earn stalemates with Liverpool (home) and Stoke (away) and couldn't put Hull away at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.

The same opponents had beaten them 2-1 in the second leg of their League Cup semi-final six days earlier so it's just one win in five for United in all comps.

The blips appear to coincide when Zlatan Ibrahimovic fires blanks and the Swede hasn't netted in the last three games - all of which United have failed to win.

It's easier said than done but stop Zlatan and a big part of United's goal threat is diminished.

Match Odds

The market leans heavily in favour of a United win and the visitors are just 1.73 to get back to winning ways.

Leicester are 5.90 while the draw is 3.95.

To give those prices some context, Leicester have the same number of home wins (5) this season as Man Utd.

Although Chelsea were just too good, the 4-2 win over Man City gives Foxes fans hope that their team will get up for this one far more than they might against less glamorous opposition.

A 0-0 home draw with Arsenal earlier this season adds to that feeling, as does a 1-1 stalemate at Spurs.

However, United are unbeaten on the road in the last six matches and, adding in Old Trafford, they haven't lost in 14 games.
Seven of those matches have been draws though and, right now, they're stuck in that mode.

This fixture ended in a 1-1 draw last year and Leicester won it 5-3 the season before so recent memories of Man Utd coming to town are good.

This is Riyad Mahrez's first home game since coming back from the African Cup of Nations and Ranieri will hope the Algerian can turn it on. That hasn't been the case for a lot of the season although the big games have perked his interest more than the mundane ones.

With United not pulling up any trees at the moment, Leicester can battle their way to an important point.

Over/Under 2.5 goals
Unders is the clear favourite at 1.87, with Overs 2.08.

There's certainly an argument to be made for more than 2.5 goals as it would have landed in seven of Leicester's 11 home games and in both meetings so far between the two sides if you add in United's 2-1 Community Shield win.

As for United away games, the split is 6-5 in favour of Unders.

To Score

A quick check of Zlatan's numbers...

The striker has scored 19 goals in 32 matches this season with 10 of those coming on the road.

Starting with a double at Swansea, he's scored eight times in his last away games so the 11/10 on the Sportsbook will tempt many in.

I prefer to back strikers when they're in the middle of a scoring burst so the fact he's not netted in the last three puts me off. Earlier this season Ibrahimovic scored just one in 11 so perhaps this is another lean patch.

No other scorer prices make much appeal with United tending to share them around and Jamie Vardy way below last year's levels. The Leicester striker has only scored in one game since September even though that was a hat-trick against Man City.

Ref watch

Anthony Taylor gets the nod for this one. The Cheshire official has flashed 95 yellows (average 3.65) and three reds in his 26 games this season.

He booked four United players in their 0-0 bore-draw at Liverpool and three in the 2-0 win at West Ham. He showed yellow to Zlatan in both games.

He's been a good-luck charm for Leicester, being the man in the middle for their 3-0 win over Burnley and 1-0 success over West Ham. He booked five Foxes players in the latter.

Recommended Bet
Back The Draw at 3.95


0 nhận xét Blogger 0 Facebook

Post a Comment

 
Top