Champions League betting – Marseille vs Manchester United

Marseille vs Manchester United betting preview, odds and tips

United domestically in the league have been infallible, it has been in cup competitions they have come unstuck. Last weekend’s fragile display against Crawley being a prime example of this, while it’s not expected that Sir Alex will send out the kids for such a crucial tie, performances like that are definitely ones the Red Devils will be looking to avoid. Players like Gabriel Obertan, Tiago Bebe and Michael Carrick who underperformed heavily at the weekend will struggle to find a space in the team.

United’s main threat this season has come from Dimitar Berbatov, but he may strangely in this European tie be dropped to the bench in favour of a more defensive 4-5-1 formation, with Wayne Rooney leading the line. So with Rooney still struggling for form of late where will the goals come from, look no further than the one and only Luis Nani. Nani has scored 9 goals this season in all competition and thrives under the pressure of big games, and the 4-5-1 compliments him nicely allowing him to almost play as a 2nd deep striker. So with odds of 11.0 on Victor Chandler to score first he could be great value. With United likely to play 4-5-1 and stifle the game you can almost guarantee that it will be a low scoring game, just like when United play any big team. So a bet on the total goals being less than 2 at odds of 2.62 on Bet365 looks very good.

Marseille

Marseille are currently sitting in third place in the Ligue 1 table after winning the title last year. Manager Didier Dechamps has already come out and said how important a game this is, and that they need to get some kind of advantage before the 2nd leg in Manchester. Star striker Andre-Pierre Gignac, is already out of the fixture and goalscoring duties fall too top scorer this season Lucho Gonzalez, who with odds of 6.5 to score anytime in the fixture on William Hill could be a veery good bet seeing as he in such good form at the moment.

Marseille’s domestic form has been very strong, winning there last 3 games and not being defeated in 6, but in Europe we all know that form back home counts for very little, a lot comes down to simply who wants it more on the night. United look set to be very fired up after the Crawley debacle and will most likely win this game and with odds of 7.0 on Totesport for a 1-0 United win.

Highlighted Bets:

First Goalscorer Nani 11.0 Victor Chandler
Total Goals Under 2 2.62 Bet365
Anytime Goalscorer Lucho Gonzalez 6.5 William Hill
Correct Score 1-0 Manchester United 7.0 Totesport

By John Fernandez

Click here to view all free bets from online bookmakers