Stoke v Man Utd: Latest Odds & Betting Tips

Stoke City v Manchester United – Kick off 12.45. Live on Sky Sports 1.

Champions of England, Champions of Europe and now Champions of the World. It’s no wonder Liverpool and Chelsea are nervously looking over their shoulders at Sir Alex’s side who are coming up on the rails and ready to mount their Championship charge.

For me that dash for the line starts today. The World Club Championships, or whatever it’s called these days, are out of the way and it’s time to get down to the serious business of winning the title. United must win today and beat Boro on Monday to set themselves up for their clash with Chelsea on January 11th and there’s no reason why they won’t.

Away win on the cards

Although United’s away form has been ropey this term – they’ve only won 3 from 9 – they’ll be too strong for a Stoke City side that is weakened by injuries. United will be the first team on many coupons up and down the country today but they’re not much value at a best price of 4/11 (Blue Sq, Ladbrokes).

However, an interesting little stat about Stoke is that they’ve only scored 3 goals in the first half of games in the league this season. They’ve also got the worst record for conceding in the first 45 too, having lost 17 goals in 18. So rather than back United at those skinny odds it makes more sense to support them to be leading at half time at the more appealing odds of 8/11 (Bet365, Coral, SkyBet).

Stoke City nil…

Stoke have only scored 6 in the last 9 outings and they’ll have a job on their hands to breech the United back line today. That makes Totesport’s odds of 21/20 on United to win without conceding look very tasty indeed. I’ll be having some of that.

Back the Portugeezer

When the two sides met in November Stoke succumbed to an Old Trafford trouncing with Ronaldo bagging a brace in a 5-0 win. He’s 4/1 (Blue Sq, Coral) to open the scoring today as he did then and 11/10 (Blue Sq) to score in the 90 minutes. I’m not a huge fan of betting on the goalscorer markets, but 33/1 (Blue Sq) on a Ronaldo hat-trick against any of the teams in the lower league has to be worth a look.

Let me now what your bets are for this game. Good luck!

Selectabet Offers:

• Open an account at Bet365 and claim £100 in free bets
• Open an account at Betfair and claim £25 in free bets
• Open an account at Paddy Power and claim £25 in free bets