Manchester United v Manchester City Betting Tips
Manchester United might be having another difficult season although they have a realistic aim of qualifying for the Champions League. Sitting in seventh place, they have a return of thirty-two points and that's only three less than fourth-placed Liverpool. They might also feel confident of ending up ahead of Brentford and Newcastle in the final standings.
Perhaps Saturday's Manchester derby might act as a turning point. The Red Devils are betting outsiders to beat City but might be playing them at the right time. Darren Fletcher's side have all week to prepare for the contest compared to their opponents having a tricky Tuesday clash at St James' Park as they compete in the Carabao Cup.
Even so, United's match odds of 3.60 imply that they only have a 28% chance of recording a victory against City. Home form has been fairly modest, with five wins, three draws and two defeats occurring. A 50% success rate doesn't inspire confidence and their last three top-flight games have all ended in draws.
The 1-1 against Wolves was particularly disappointing and that came before taking a point at Leeds and Burnley. At least Bruno Fernandes is back in the fold, although Bryan Mbuemo and Amad Diallo remain absent from proceedings, with a heavy reliance of Matheus Cunha to make things happen.
Manchester City have also had a spate of recent draws. They failed to become the first team to win at the Stadium of Light after a goalless draw on Wearside. This was followed by a 1-1 draw against Chelsea and the same scoreline happened when facing Brighton. The goals have dried up, even if they did put ten past Exeter City in the FA Cup.
Perhaps Antoine Semenyo can spark the Cityzens into life after a big money move from Bournemouth and his numbers have been impressive this term. There's always a chance of success based on Erling Haaland's goal rate, although City's win rate on the road is only 50% and there's an argument for opposing them in the derby.
Goals Under/Over
There's a roughly 65% chance of three or more goals being scored according to the latest betting odds. The net has bulged thirty-one times in ten Manchester United home matches which lends credence to this probability. Similarly, there have been twenty-nine goals in ten Manchester City away clashes, although those numbers are skewed by a crazy 5-4 victory which was achieved at Craven Cottage.
City are somewhat short of goals in recent encounters and that goalless draw at the Stadium Of Light suggests that Under 2.5 might be more of a value proposition. Sunderland defended stoutly in that game and perhaps Manchester United might need to show more attacking endeavour than the Black Cats which will lead to a more open game.
However, the two Manchester rivals played out a goalless draw at Old Trafford in April and it might be that we see another low-scoring contest here. The Unders certainly makes more appeal at the prices for a match where United might consider another draw to be a decent outcome.
BTTS
The BTTS Yes price is trading even shorter than Over 2.5 Goals which may surprise a few. Manchester United might make heavy weather of creating chances, especially as they're missing key players. They only managed to score once at home to Wolves recently, with a solitary strike then coming at Elland Road courtesy of Matheus Cunha.
While Bruno Fernandes is back in the fold, we are likely to see the Red Devils have a low amount of possession and this is a side trailing in the wake of Ruben Amorim's departure. Even if an interim manager replaces caretaker boss Darren Fletcher, it doesn't mean he will be able to get across his ideas and strategy for this contest.
The only encouragement for United is that City are not in the best of form. Three successive Premier League games have seen them concede at home to Chelsea and Brighton. However, they have only conceded eleven goals on the road in ten away games. Four of these were at Craven Cottage and we do think that BTTS No is the value pick. That could be combined with Manchester City winning if you want a bigger price.
First Goalscorer
Not for the first time, we have to start with Erling Haaland when it comes to goalscorer options. The Norwegian is averaging nearly a goal per Premier League encounter, although there has only been one in the past four top-flight games. He also drew a blank against Exeter in the FA Cup when playing for forty-five minutes and perhaps he can be swerved for the club's latest signing.
Antoine Semenyo actually has double figures in the Premier League this season after shining for Bournemouth in the first half of the season. The Ghanaian is a quality operator and Pep Guardiola might look for him to add some extra pizazz after some difficult recent clashes. It was Tijjani Reijnders who broke the deadlock against Chelsea and perhaps the Dutchman can chip in with another goal here.
With Bryan Mbuemo still absent, perhaps Matheus Cunha is the most likely Manchester United scorer. The Brazilian scored in consecutive games against Bournemouth and Aston Villa, with the former Wolves player then scoring the equaliser at Elland Road. He's finding some good form and the alternative is Bruno Fernandes. He will be on spot kicks and free-kicks for the home side and will always be a big game player.