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2010-09-22 - Scunthorpe United vs Manchester United
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Carling Cup
Wednesday 22 September 2010 - Kickoff 7:45pm
This game is live on TV
Scunthorpe United
Scunthorpe Unitde picked up one of the ties of the round as they host Manchester United at Glanford Park, but things have not been going smoothly since the draw was made. Nigel Adkins has left his post as manager to take over at Southampton and the hot seat is yet to be filled and Ian Baraclough will be in charge of picking the team as the caretaker manager. The side has beaten Oldham Athletic and Sheffield Wednesday in the Carling Cup this season, both wins coming here at Glanford Park.
The Irons won their first match without Adkins as manager but lost their last outing at Swansea over the weekend and have been left in 15th position in the Championship at this early stage. They have a 1-0-2 record at home in the League and have scored 3 goals while conceding 3 so far this season.
Rob Jones will be given a late fitness test before this game. Garry Thompson is out while Jim McNulty looks to be losing the race to recover from his injury in time.
Manchester United
The strongest side Manchester United have put out in this competition usually comes in the later stages of the competition but this has not stopped the side from winning this 2 years in a row. There have been times in the past when the Red Devils have been victims to cup shocks as York City, Southend United and most recently Coventry City have knocked United out of this competition.
A Dimitar Berbatov hattrick enabled United to pick up the 3 points in the League against Liverpool over the weekend but there are still some issues defensively with the side. They are now up to 3rd in the Premier League table but have yet to win an away game, drawing their opening 2 competitive games this season at Fulham and Everton.
It is clear that Sir Alex Ferguson is going to make wholesale changes to the side that won against Liverpool at the weekend. Michael Owen has been promised a start and it is expected the likes of Javier Hernandez, Anderson, Gary Neville and Darren Gibson will be given an opportunity here. It is also possible that Rio Ferdinand will be given another 90 minutes as he recovers from his long term injury.
Prediction
The Carling Cup is always a tough competition to place big wagers in simply because of the motivation levels of some sides and the short prices all around. It very much used to be a good idea to oppose Manchester United in this competition, but it seems they take it a little more seriously these days, playing fringe players rather than youth.
Scunthorpe will look to make this an intimidating atmosphere in their enclose ground but it is hard to imagine a team that finds it hard to score at home in the League to find it any easier against a defence that should have a fair bit of experience in it.
United had a similar test last season when they travelled to Barnsley and managed to do the business then, but I cannot recommend them at such a short price.
Instead I will favour the under 2.5 goal option here- this would have been a winner in 5 of the last 6 ties United have played before the Quarter Final stage of this competition. These ties include matches against sides in the Championship, some being of the same level like Barnsley, and I think the United second string may have a tough evening in front of them again.
The price on the under option looks too big in my opinion and must be worth a shot.
The Pick :
Scunthorpe United 0-2 Manchester United
