Tag: Man Utd

United Need to Find Another Gear

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

Much has been said of Manchester United’s supposed recent good form. The reality is that they have been far from convincing. Despite reaching the last eight of the Europa League and winning the EFL Cup, they are still some way off reaching the top four in the Premier League. Their main problem has been in finding the net and a second striker that will deliver enough goals. They haven’t found anybody to partner Zlatan Ibrahimovic who can share the workload in terms of scoring.

United are a team that dominate possession in most games but don’t find the net often enough. This has been a repeating pattern all season. Wayne Rooney has fallen out of favour with manager Jose Mourinho. To make matters worse, Anthony Martial has been misfiring and still doesn’t appear to be true United quality.

No Top Class Striking Options

Too much has been asked of young Marcus Rashford. This young lad is still learning his trade and hasn’t really kicked on this season. Too much has rested on the broad shoulders of Ibrahimovic. His recent suspension has come at a bad time for United. It was no surprise on Saturday to see them labour to yet another draw at home to West Brom.

The pattern is all too obvious. United dominate the game in terms of possession but don’t score. They badly need to find a long term striking option for next season. At 35 years of age then it is clear that Ibrahimovic simply cannot go on for much longer. Even if United were to go on and lift the Europa League, that will still only paper over what is really needed at Old Trafford.

Will United beat the Blue half of Liverpool?

United face Everton on Wednesday in what is a vital game for them. They are in a serious fight to finish in the top four. This wasn’t something that the United fans expected when Mourinho took charge. Everton under Ronald Koeman has been a much tougher nut to crack this season.

They will surely want to bounce back after their 3-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield. The question is will they? This match represents an interesting betting proposition. Clearly United are struggling to score goals at the moment. Everton, on the other hand, is somewhat resolute in defence. So the draw at 16-5 with BetVictor appeals to us.

BetVictor also go 20-21 on their under 2.5 goals market. This is yet another bet that we feel may be value. Anything less than a win for United on Wednesday will really turn the pressure on them in terms of a top four finish this season.

Stoke City vs. Man United: Can Stoke Stall Mourinho’s Machine?

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

This Saturday sees Man United travel to the Bet365 Stadium, hoping that a win against Stoke will keep the dream of 4th place within reach.

Mid table giants

There really aren’t any surprises when looking back across Stoke’s last 10 or so league games. We can sketch out a rough pattern of taking points against teams around or lower than them in the table and being beaten by teams in the top 4. They’ve racked up victories against Sunderland, Watford and Burnley, drew against Southampton and Leicester, and lost their games with Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal. Having performed well and taken the necessary point in targeted matches against mid-table rivals, Stoke can be forgiven for coming up short against the bigger clubs.

However, assuming this pattern of losing against the bigger clubs will continue through the game against United could prove dangerous, as the games they lost were all played away. If we take a look at the head to head stats, Stoke hasn’t lost to United at home since 2013 and has managed to take at least a point in three out of the last four meetings, including a grabbing a draw at Old Trafford in October. I expect a tight and organised performance from Stoke in this game. Playing from the back, frustrating their opponents and grabbing goals where they can, Mark Hughes will be quietly confident in his team’s ability to take a point, maybe more.

Want-away Bojan Krkic has a hip injury and is in doubt for Saturday, alongside longer term injuries to Butland, Walters, Cameron and Ireland.

Improving United

United has been going from strength to strength since their terrible start to the season. Their draw against Liverpool last Sunday ended a 6 game winning streak that had seen them steadily close the gap that had emerged between them and the pack at the top of the table. The game against their bitter rivals was hard fought, and Mourinho can be forgiven for being frustrated by not taking 3 points in a game that saw one of Liverpool’s best defensive displays of the season so far. Should they beat Stoke, United will leapfrog Man City into 5th spot, and with a fraught and fraying City entertaining an ever improving Spurs in the 17:30 Saturday fixture, they very well might be keeping it.

As mentioned earlier, United don’t have the best recent record playing at Stoke, but this is a very capable squad in some of the best form they have had in the past few seasons. Bouncing back from the game against Liverpool in time to pip Pep is a prospect Mourinho will relish.

With no first team injuries to contend with, Mourinho will be able to pick freely from a fit squad. He will certainly be hoping for an improved performance from Paul Pogba, who has been heavily criticised for a poor display last weekend, particularly in defence. I expect United to dominate possessions and chances, constantly probing for weakness, and should they find any, it will come down to whether they can capitalise.

The value

My instinct here would be to back Under 2.5 goals (at 17/20 on Bet365). The bookies are giving this a very slight nod over Over 2.5. Only one out of the last 6 Stoke home games have finished with more than 2.5 goals and considering they will likely have their backs against the wall, I really don’t see a goal fest here. Man United Win & Under 2.5 at 13/5 is good value, as a 0:1 or 0:2 result seems fairly likely. If you fancy Stoke to get a result, William Hill has Double Chance Stoke or Draw at 11/10.

Chelsea, Man Utd & Arsenal ALL to win at 10/1!

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

Firstly, Merrrry Christmas from all at Betcirca! It’s been quite a year for us, i hope its been a splendid year for you too!

We thought we’d leave this Christmas treat here. You have until 12:45 tomorrow to take advantage of this juicy treble. Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal all to win at 10/1 with Coral. Max stake is £5. Free £50 i hear you cry? Well, the chances are pretty damn high this’ll win, so why not take advantage!

Click here to open an account to be offered the enhanced 10/1 price!

Premier League Preview Oct 18 – 20th

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

The Premier League makes a welcome return on Saturday after the International break. First up are champions Manchester City who host Tottenham in the lunchtime kick-off.

Spurs have been down this route before, arriving here in buoyant mood last year to be thumped 6-0. They also suffered similar humiliation at home, conceding a further five as City waltzed through their non-existent defence. Will Tottenham make a game of it under Mauricio Pochettino?

Although Spurs trail City by just three points, this is really a match that the Champions should win if they are to keep tabs on Chelsea. Sergio Aguero scored three times against Spurs last year and is back to something like his best. He looks a decent bet to score in a home win.

Arsenal are currently residing in eighth place and they need a confidence booster at home to Hull. The dust has now settled on another defeat for the Gunners at Stamford Bridge and Arsene Wenger has begrudgingly apologised for shoving Jose Mourinho. There should not be too much to get fired up about in this one, although Hull may feel that they have a score to settle from last season’s FA Cup disappointment.

Burnley are starting to look like good things for relegation and a defeat at home to West Ham on Saturday would confirm that view. Sam Allardyce has pulled a rabbit out of the hat with Diafra Sakho who has scored in all five games so far for the Hammers. He could be worth combining with a Hammers victory, especially with Stewart Downing relishing his new role as midfield provider.

League leaders Chelsea travel to Crystal Palace for a game that they should win in a canter. Somehow they contrived to lose this match last year and it provides an opportunity to measure their progress since. Three points against Palace counts just as much as three against Arsenal and that is a lesson that they should have learned from last year. The bookmakers are growing to hate Diego Costa as he keeps coming up with the goods. He even scored for Spain in midweek and the omens are not good for Palace.

Everton must be scratching their heads when they look at the league table and see themselves one point above the drop zone. They have played some good football this season but their defence has been woeful. They need to tighten up against a slightly unpredictable Aston Villa side but should just edge it.

I would normally skip past Newcastle v Leicester but the Alan Pardew show re-starts at 3pm with more trials and tribulations expected. Papiss Cisse is the only man keeping Pardew in a job at the moment and he will be the key player again on Saturday. Don’t put it past him to pop up and save his boss for the third time in little over a month.

Southampton continue to astound and sit proudly in third position. They are at home to Sunderland but you get the feeling that the pressure will start to tell sooner or later. They needed a world class goal from Pelle to beat QPR and Sunderland returned to winning form last week. It may be worth taking the Black Cats to steal a point on Saturday.

QPR look as weak as Burnley at present and should provide Liverpool with a much-needed three points on Sunday while Stoke and Swansea has “draw” written all over it. The mega-bucks spent at Old Trafford have started to pay off and they can continue their upward climb by winning at the Hawthorns on Monday. Di Maria continues to impress and can get on the score sheet for the Red Devils.

Sergio Aguero to score and Man City win @11-8 Coral

Arsenal to win by one goal @11-4 Skybet

Diafra Sakho to score and West Ham win @5-1 Bwin

Diego Costa to score and Chelsea win @6-5 Ladbrokes

Everton to win by one goal @11-4 Skybet

Papiss Cisse to score and Newcastle win @15-4 Bwin

Southampton v Sunderland DRAW @3-1 Bet365

Liverpool to win by three or more goals @4-1 Skybet

Stoke v Swansea DRAW @21-10 Bet365

Angel Di Maria to score and Man Utd win @3-1 Paddy Power