Man Utd v Watford
Saturday, 15:00

Man Utd

Last week's 3-0 win at struggling Leicester ended a run of three draws in the Premier League and, thanks to the recent difficulties of Arsenal and Liverpool, put United only two points off fourth place in the table. Their unbeaten run now stretches to 15 games (W8 D7 L0) - their best in the Premier League since the Sir Alex Ferguson era.

Wayne Rooney is in contention for a starting place again after missing the trip to Leicester through illness but there are injury concerns over defenders Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo.

Watford

Having looked likely to become embroiled in the relegation dogfight, Walter Mazzarri's side have given themselves breathing space by following their upset win at Arsenal with another three points at home to Burnley last week.

In the congested mid-table, Watford are now up to 10th and there is a 10-point gap back to the relegation zone, which appears to have been enough to stave off yet another managerial change at Vicarage Road.

Match Odds

United are the shortest-priced favourites on this weekend's Premier League programme but, as we saw in their 0-0 against Hull in their last home match, they are not the most reliable team at delivering the banker odds.

Jose Mourinho's team rank only ninth on home form, with just five wins out of 12 at Old Trafford. As well as Hull, teams who have drawn there include Burnley, West Ham and Stoke, and United's home record against the worst 10 away sides is W4 D3 L0. Only two of those wins came by more than a single goal (4-1 v Leicester and 3-1 v Sunderland).

Watford rank 12th on away form (W3 D3 L6) but their record was not even middling before the shock result at Arsenal, with their only two previous away wins having come at West Ham and Middlesbrough (both rank in the bottom six on home form).

A key difference now is that their attack looks much stronger following the arrival of Mauro Zarate (formerly of West Ham) from Fiorentina and M'Baye Niang on loan from Milan, with Troy Deeney back among the goals now he has some assistance up front.

That gives them some hope of rekindling the spirit of their 3-1 home victory over United in September, which had been Mazzarri's best result before the Arsenal trip, and it is encouraging that they have scored in six of their seven matches against big-six teams.

Over/Under 2.5 Goals

United's difficulty in breaking down visitors to Old Trafford is evident from the fact that eight of their 12 home games have had under 2.5 goals, with the four exceptions all featuring some contribution from their opponents.

An interesting point during Watford's seven-match winless run before the Arsenal victory was that only Tottenham beat them out of sight (4-1 at Vicarage Road) and five of the other six games had under 2.5 goals.

That suggests Mazzarri's side will not wilt easily, even if the goals count rises now that Watford are scoring again themselves.

Of the 17 games in which Watford have scored, 13 have gone over 2.5 goals.

Both Teams To Score

While high-scoring matches have been fairly scarce at Old Trafford, Manchester United's difficulty in putting teams away is reflected in the fact that both teams have scored in eight of their 12 home matches.

Watford seem well capable of exploiting that vulnerability and both teams to score looks a decent bet at 2.42.

Ref Watch

Robert Madley had some high card counts early in the season but his Premier League matches have been relatively calm in recent weeks with only one of the last five going over 30 bookings points. On his two visits to Old Trafford this season, however, he booked three United players each time, so this has the potential to go higher.

Recommended Bet
Back Both Teams To Score at 2.42


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