English Premier
2011-10-01 - Manchester United vs Norwich City
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Premier League
Saturday 1 October 2011 - Kickoff 3pm
Manchester United
The usual swagger and performance that Manchester United play with at Old Trafford was missing on Tuesday night as they threw away a winning position against Basel to drop 2 points in the Champions League. While it is not a time to panic, Sir Alex Ferguson will be making sure his side do not play with the same level of 'carelessness' they displayed last time out.
Regardless of that performance, Manchester United remain the favourites to win their Champions League group but will now return to the grind of the Premier League. They are top of the League with a 5-1-0 record, but lost their 100% record last weekend when they could only draw 1-1 at the Brittania Stadium against Stoke City. United have won all 3 Premier League games at Old Trafford, scoring 14 goals and conceding 3 in those games.
United remain unbeaten in all 9 competitive games they have played this season thanks to Ashley Young's last minute equaliser against Basel. The Red Devils had won 20 consecutive games at Old Trafford before the draw with Basel, although they managed to avoid their first defeat since April 2010. United have scored at least 3 goals in 6 of their last 7 games at Old Trafford.
Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, Rafael and Tom Cleverley will all be missing from the United line up on Saturday. Chris Smalling, Jonny Evans and Javier Hernandez all missed Tuesday but are expected to be available for this game, while Nani should be restored to the line up having started on the bench against Basel.
Norwich City
Norwich City have made a decent start to life in the top flight and it is easy to forget that this team was playing in the 2nd tier of English football just 2 years ago. Paul Lambert has his team playing some good football on the ground and they will feel they can survive in the Premier League with performances like the one they had when beating Sunderland on Monday night.
The Canaries are perched in 9th place in the League having picked up 8 points in their first 6 games of the season and they have a symmetrical 2-2-2 record on the season. Norwich are 1-1-1 away from home this season, scoring 4 goals and conceding 5 in those games.
Norwich failed to win any of their first 5 competitive games this season, including an embarrassing 0-4 home loss to the MK Dons in the Carling Cup, and there may have been a few worried fans. However, they have turned things around by winning back to back Premier League games at Bolton and at home against Sunderland. Norwich's away defeat came at Chelsea, but they had acquitted themselves well before falling to a 3-1 defeat.
James Vaughan limped off on Monday and will be missing for Paul Lambert, but his bigger concerns may be in defensive positions. Zak Whitbread and Elliot Ward are both in a race against time to be passed fit, while Daniel Ayala is out and Ritchie De Laet cannot play against his parent club.
Head to Head
Manchester United and Norwich last met in the 2004/05 Premier League season with both teams winning their home games.
United beat Norwich 2-1 at Old Trafford that season and also won their previous home game against the Canaries although that took place exactly 10 seasons earlier.
Prediction
Manchester United were a shambles defensively in their 3-3 draw against Basel, and it only highlighted the number of chances they are allowing teams at Old Trafford, a far cry from the strong defensive performances they have shown there in recent seasons.
Chelsea created a hatful of chances in their 3-1 loss at Old Trafford, while Arsenal scored 2 and missed a penalty in their 8-2 loss which shows that teams can definitely breach the door here, and that was only proved again when Basel scored 3 on Tuesday.
That really puts me off a number of markets including the Asian Handicap and 'win to nil' ones, while the Over 2.5 Goals is set at a ridiculous 1.36.
Picking the 'Over 3.5 Goals' market is pushing the envelope too close to the layers in my opinion, and even that is remarkably short at 2.00 so instead I will look at the goalscorers market.
There I was pleasantly surprised to see Nani priced up at a standout 2.88- Nani has been in exceptional early season form, and he has scored in 3 of the last 4 League games United have played.
With Wayne Rooney out, Nani will also be responsible for direct free kicks, along with Ashley Young, and is the most likely penalty taker, especially if Ryan Giggs is not on the field either.
Norwich have given away a penalty in every away game they have played in the League this season, so Nani could potentially capitalise on this is if comes about and it looks the only real angle to getting on this game.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Manchester United 3-1 Norwich City
