English Premier
2009-03-14 - Manchester United vs Liverpool
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: England, Premier League
Saturday, 14th March 2009 - Kickoff 12:45
Manchester United
Manchester United have a huge opportunity this weekend to knock one of their title rivals out of the race and put a giant stride in closing in on their 3rd straight Premier League title.
United currently lead the division by 7 points from Chelsea and Liverpool with an extra game to play than their rivals. They have compiled an impressive 20-5-2 record this season, and Old Trafford has been particularly daunting for visiting teams as United are 12-1-0 there with 30 goals scored and only 5 conceded.
United have the best home record in the Premier League and are the joint top scorers at home while also having the best defensive record. In fact, only 3 teams have managed to score at Old Trafford this season in the 13 games played there.
United are on impressive form, winning 12 straight League games at Old Trafford and they have been impressive of late by winning 15 of their last 16 games in all competitions.
United had been having problems scoring during the early part of the campaign that led to much criticism of the side, but they have scored 2 or more goals in 7 of their last 8 games in all competitions. To make things more difficult for their rivals, United have only conceded 7 goals in their last 16 games.
United look to have a full squad to call on again for this match. It is likely that United will look to freshen things up from the game against Inter but with no more games until next Saturday, Sir Alex Ferguson has his pick of the players.
Liverpool
Liverpool looked good again in Europe on Tuesday night which left their fans scratching their heads- how could the same side that demolished Real Madrid struggle to break down teams like Stoke, Middlesbrough and Fulham in this campaign?
Liverpool are 3rd in the Premier League and no anything less than a win here effectively ends their title challenge. They have a 16-10-2 record this season and are a solid 8-4-2 away from home. Only Chelsea and Aston Villa have won more away games than Liverpool this season who have an identical away record as United.
Liverpool will be looking at the number of draws they have had as being the area that has let them down this season, especially as many of these draws have come against the 'lesser' sides. Liverpool have a 3-1-0 record against the other 'big 4' so far this season.
Liverpool have won their last 2 games since they were beaten at Middlesbrough and have won 4 of their last 6 games. Away from home, Liverpool have won 2 of their last 6 games but a bigger worry will be the fact that they have lost 2 of their last 4 and failed to score in both of those games. The Reds have only 1 clean sheet from their last 5 away games.
Fernando Torres is going to play in this game after coming through the Madrid game with painkilling injections. Steven Gerrard was taken off once the job was done on Tuesday in anticipation of this game.
Trying to guess other changes that may be made by Rafa Benitez is never easy but we can be sure that the likes of Torres and Gerrard will start as well as Carragher and Reina. The only issues that need to be addressed concern Babel or Rieira and Dossena and Aurelio.
Head to Head
Liverpool won the fixture at Anfield earlier this season 2-1 after coming from a goal down and represented Benitez's first success against Manchester United in the League after 5 defeats in a row.
United had won 7 of 8 League games against the North West rivals before the defeat earlier this season.
United have won 4 in a row against Liverpool at Old Trafford. In that time, United have scored 2 or more goals on 3 occasions and they have kept 3 clean sheets in a row against Liverpool at home.
Prediction
Wayne Rooney has stoked the flames for this game, stating how much he hates Liverpool and is looking forward to stopping them win the title.
United have been impressive of late, but did not perform to maximum potential against Inter. This does not bode well for Liverpool as I do not think Sir Alex Ferguson allows them to play that casually again.
Liverpool need to win which places Rafa Benitez in an unfamiliar position of having to go for goals rather than being content to sit back and counter attack. I expect Benitez to keep it tight for 60 minutes and hope to sneak a winner in the last 30 minutes to win the game.
I think United have the edge here, meaning that they will be allowed to dictate play as Liverpool ensure they keep things tight. However this tactic has not worked too well for Benitez in the last few seasons at Old Trafford and I think United will win again and finally hammer in the last nail in the coffin which contains Liverpool's title challenge.
The price is very attractive on the home win and I doubt I will see United so big to win at Old Trafford again this season.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Manchester United 2-0 Liverpool
