Manchester United v Arsenal Betting Preview

After three successive Premier League wins Manchester United will be looking to replicate last season’s double over Arsenal at lunchtime on Saturday. Choose a free bet for this match here.

After three Premier League wins on the bounce Manchester United will be looking to assert their authority in the league on Saturday against Arsenal.  Even though Manchester United are still looking shaky at the back conceding a lot more goals this season than usual, they are playing some exciting football – scoring goals for fun. Their scoring capabilities have been key for them this season helping them to come from behind on four occasions in the Premier League this season.

Sir Alex Ferguson reaped the dividends playing an attacking team at Chelsea that featured Rooney, Van Persie, Valencia and Young, eventually winning the match 3-2. His side looked very impressive on the counter attack with wingers Young and Valencia using their explosive pace on the counter attack which saw United race into an early 2-0 lead. It is likely that Sir Alex will play a similarly attacking team on Saturday with the philosophy of ‘we can outscore you’ against Arsenal. After resting most of his key players including Rooney and Van Persie in the midweek cup defeat away at Chelsea Sir Alex is likely to freshen up his team and revert back to a similar team that beat Chelsea on the weekend.

After their 3-1 away win at Upton Park Arsenal have suffered a dramatic slump in their form losing two out of their last three in all competitions and only just narrowly beating the Premier League’s bottom side 1-0 at the Emirates. Not only have only lacked a clinical finisher to score goals but they have not been able to create enough chances to control matches. This must be very worrying for Wenger as Gervinho and Giroud have looked amiss in front of goal this season missing many of the rare clear cut chances Arsenal have been creating. However, Arsenal were able to temporarily forget their woes on Tuesday against Reading in the Capital One Cup where they showed tremendous attitude to come back from 4-0 down to eventually win the match 7-5 after extra time. Theo Walcott was the catalyst in this comeback by scoring two vital goals and showing that he may be the man to fill the void left by Robin Van Persie.

Given the recent performances from Arsenal and their dismal record at Old Trafford Aresene Wenger may be forgiven if he sets his team up to defend and not attack. The shrewd Frenchman may revert to a more defensive formation with the idea of breaking on the counter attack with the pace of Podolski and Gervinho.  Also, Jack Wilshere will be in contention to start his second Premier League game of the season after 14 months out on the sidelines, which can only be beneficial to Arsenal. The promising Englishmen hopes he can reignite the somewhat predictable Arsenal midfield and bring back the free flowing entertaining Arsenal football we are all used to.

In recent seasons this fixture has seen some fantastically exciting encounters with no shortage of drama and action. This is bound to be a great game to watch for the neutrals and goals are expected to flow.

Last three league matches:

Newcastle 0-3 Manchester United                                            West Ham United 1-3 Arsenal

Manchester United 4-2 Stoke                                                     Norwich 1-0 Arsenal

Chelsea 2-3 Manchester United                                                  Arsenal 1-0 QPR

H2H:

Arsenal 1-2 Manchester United     Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal   Arsenal 1-0 Manchester United

Prediction:

Arsenal have lost on their last three encounters with Manchester United at Old Trafford and in their current form they are likely to do so again. It will be extremely difficult for Aresene Wenger’s side to get anything at Old Trafford given the form of the two teams. Arsenal are struggling to score goals lacking a clinical finisher since selling Robin Van Persie to United in the summer, whilst although Manchester United are giving away soft goals they are scoring for fun having scored 16 goals in their first 5 home Premier League matches. Therefore backing a Manchester United win would be advisable but at 4/6 the odds reflect their superiority and because of this a better bet would be Manchester United to win by a -1 goal handicap @ 8/5 (meaning they have to win by two clear goals).

Highlighted Bets:

1)      Ex-gunner Robin Van Persie has scored in his last two Premier league games and will be eager to score against his old club on Saturday. The ‘flying Dutchman’ has shown that he is still a clinical finisher in recent weeks and is more than capable of scoring goals against a weak Arsenal defence. Having scored a hat-trick for Arsenal last year at Stamford Bridge Van Persie has proven that he can score goals in the big games and he is a whopping 30/1 to score a hat-trick against his old club. This is an extravagant bet but one that offers fantastic value for a player performing well for an in form team against a lacklustre Arsenal defence.

2)      An obvious bet on this game would be to back over 2.5 goals as both teams are likely to concede and usually this fixture averages more than three goals. However, at 13/20 this seems very short and not worth the risk that it holds as Arsenal may approach the game defensively leaving it difficult for Manchester United to break them down thus limiting chances in the match. Therefore, as an alternative for bet that offers better value I would advise looking at backing over 1.5 goals in the first half @ 13/8. A bet that would have won in Manchester United’s last three home fixtures in all competitions. This is a great bet as United usually come out of the traps flying at home to try and score an early goal, but this also leaves them prone at the back and because of this they have conceded early home goals against Fulham, Stoke, Tottenham and Braga this season.

Recap:

• Manchester United -1 handicap @ 8/5 (win by two clear goals i.e. 2-0)
• Robin Van Persie to score a hat-trick @ 30/1
• Over 1.5 first half goals @ 13/8

Article by Mark Stefanyszyn

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