Owen to give City the blues?

It’s not often that you able to back Manchester United at odds-against to win at home, but you can this Sunday when they play host to arch rivals City.
 
United are 2.1 Boylesports and Victor Chandler to bag three points in the Derby clash and regain the top spot in the league from Mancini’s men.
 

Michael Owen celebrating his late goal against City in 09/10

The stats are good as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side have lost none of their last six games against the Citizens – winning five and drawing one.
 
United have also lost none of their last 25 league games at Old Trafford and have had by far the more testing fixtures of the two sides this season.
 
They have played –  and beaten – Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs and drew with Liverpool last week when Rooney was surprisingly left out of a defensive looking starting line-up.
 
By stark contrast, City have only faced Spurs from last season’s top six and have so far had an easy run of games against inferior opposition.
 
Rooney will surely start on Sunday and he is as short as 5 with many bookmakers to open the scoring. However Paddy Power have gone 7 and that looks terrific value.
 
There could also be a bit of value to be had in backing Michael Owen to score at anytime during the 90 minutes.
 
Owen may not get a start, but given his terrific goal scoring record against City it will be surprising if he doesn’t get involved at some point.

He has scored seven goals in eight Premier League games against the Blues, and that makes the 3.5 on offer with Victor Chandler about him scoring anytime look attractive.
 
Make no mistake, this is a tough game for United and a win by any margin will be welcomed by all.
 
I believe that their young guns will be up for this like no other game. Their enthusiasm and will to run themselves into the ground to grind out a result looks the key to a United victory.
 
Predicting the scoreline is a really tough call. United have scored with a higher percentage of their shots than any other team in the Premier League (24%), while City are ranked second scoring with 20%.
 
A scour of the markets suggests that 2-1 is the most likely outcome and that can be backed at 8.5 with bet365 and Victor Chandler.
 
To me that looks the most solid option if your playing in the correct score market, but at a tasty 17 with Boylesports 3-1 has to be worth a small saver.
 
*bet365 are offering a  free ‘In-Play’ bet offer for this game. Place a bet before kick-off and once the game has started place another bet on any of more than 60 In-Play markets to qualify. If your first In-Play bet loses they will refund this stake, up to the same value as your largest pre-match bet (max £50).