United may not have had the best of weeks but the bookmakers make them a top priced 1.73 to bounce back and notch an away victory over Aston Villa and the stats suggest they will do just that.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s young guns were frustrated in their 1-1 draw with Newcastle last weekend, as Javier Hernandez’s opener was cancelled out by Demba Ba following a controversial penalty decision that the gaffer described as “shocking”.
They then slipped to a 2-1 defeat at home to Crystal Palace on Wednesday to bow out of the Carling Cup at the quarter-final stage, after which Ferguson apologised to supporters for the performance having rested several senior players and relied on inexperienced young blood to deliver the goods.
It will be back to the first-choice starting XI for the trip to Villa, and that should be enough for United to land odds of 1.73 with bet365, Betfred and Paddy Power and bag all three points.
The stats are certainly in United’s favour as far as this clash is concerned.
Villa have won none of their last 15 Premiership home games against United, drawing six and losing nine, and overall they have won just one of 31 meetings between the two sides.
United have also won 11 times at Villa Park in the PL, and with Rooney, Chicharito, Nani and Vidic all expected to start it would take a brave man to back against them not notching another win over Alex McLeish’s men.
I certainly expect them to prove too strong for the Villans, who have made their worst start to the season since 2005/06 and were very poor in their 0-0 draw at Swansea last weekend.
One player who will be relishing the game for United is Vidic, who scored in both matches against them last season.
He clearly likes netting against the claret and blues, and at a whopping price of 26 with bet365 and Paddy Power could be worth a small investment to pop up an net the opener.
You can also get 9.5 with bet365 about him scoring anytime during the 90 minutes, and that looks tempting given his record.
With Villa struggling to score I fancy United to win this to nil, and the 2.8 on offer with Paddy Power about that outcome looks huge.
I am going to take United to win 2-0 at a general price of 7.5, with a small saver on 3-0 at a standout 14 with Paddy Power.
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