Football Betting Tips: Expect United and Chelsea to continue their failure to fire
LIVERPOOL fans were worried Manchester United’s players wouldn’t play to their best ability against Manchester City on Wednesday night in a bid to stop their fierce rivals winning the title.
But that couldn’t have been further from the truth, with a determined United side getting stuck in early on at Old Trafford and the fans creating a louder-than-usual atmosphere.
The game had that real derby feel to it for the first 45 minutes with Marcus Rashford getting in between defenders Vincent Kompany and Aymeric Laporte and forcing Ederson into action.
Worries about the home side’s intensity from the red side of Liverpool soon dried up and Manchester United began to play football.
Unfortunately, that was the worst thing they could have done.
The whole time United were making life difficult for City they looked capable of getting a result, but that all changed when they got a foot on the ball and tried to play.
Trying to ‘out-football’ City is a thankless task and not many sides, if any, have managed to do so over the past two seasons and goals from Bernando Silva and Leroy Sane sealed the win.
That defeat was United’s seventh in nine games – meaning manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer now has the worst win ratio of any permanent manager at the club.
It seems such a long time since OGS became the first United manager to win his first six league games, beating a record held by Sir Matt Busby, before going 13 unbeaten.
Chelsea, who are three points and two places above, are the visitors to Old Trafford this weekend, with both sides fighting for a top-four finish in order to achieve Champions League football.
But it’s hard to see how OGS can fix it.
After all, it’s not just one area of his team that needs improving, it’s every area of the pitch, from dodgy David de Gea to the luckless Romelu Lukaku.
To put it in to context, United haven’t kept a clean sheet in 12 games – their worst record in 48 years – and have already conceded 50 in the league this season – more than ever before.
Goalkeeper De Gea has been out of sorts and should have done better with Sane’s shot on Wednesday night, but things are just as bad for United in attack despite having such a vast array of talent.
United are now without a goal in four hours and 40 minutes, with their last strikes coming against West Ham.
However, they were penalties and almost nine hours have passed since a goal from open play.
Like United, Chelsea too are levels below what they have achieved in recent years, and they were frustrated by Burnley in midweek, with Sean Dyche and Co travelling back to Lancashire with a – well-deserved point.
More worrying is there away form, with the Blues failing to score in five of their previous seven games and conceding six at City, four at Bournemouth and two at Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal.
With Arsenal suffering a thumping defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers in midweek, Chelsea fans know they missed a huge chance to gain some breathing space from the chasing pack.
However, that feeling of looking over their shoulders is unlikely to go after this weekend’s fixtures, with the draw at Old Trafford looking the most tempting play at 5/2.
POINTERS SUNDAY
Draw 5/2