Wolves v Man Utd

Wolves v Man Utd

Live on ESPN. Kick off 5.30pm

Having lifted the Carling Cup, Manchester United now need to get back to business by winning the Premier League. Betfair’s Dan ‘The Betting Man’ Fitch expects them to take a step in the right direction, with a victory over Wolves.

With Chelsea in action in the FA Cup on Sunday, Manchester United have the perfect opportunity to leapfrog them and return to the top of the table.

To do so they must travel to Molineux and take all 3 points from a Wolves side that are hovering just outside the relegation zone and fighting for survival.

As is always the case with United these days, all eyes and the bulk of expectations will rest upon Wayne Rooney. The England striker performed disappointingly on international duty in midweek, but has been in scintillating form for his club and came off the bench to score the winner in the Carling Cup final last weekend.

While Rooney alone has scored 16 goals in his last 15 Premier League appearances, Wolves are struggling to find the net, having scored just a solitary goal from their last 5 league home matches.

Wolves have played United twice this season and failed to score on either occasion. Mick McCarthy’s side can also boast of the dubious distinction of being the Premier League side that have managed the least amount of shots on target this season (82).

All of this points to a Manchester United clean sheet looking good value at 1.92. Despite Wolves lack of goal power, the deadliness of Rooney and United makes over 2.5 goals the favourite at 1.87, with unders at 2.14.

When the goalscorer markets open on Betfair closer to kick off, expect Rooney to lead the betting at around 4.0 to score first and 1.83 to score anytime, with Dimitar Berbatov at 5.5 and 2.4. For Wolves, Kevin Doyle will be favourite at about 12.0 and 4.5.

McCarthy took a lot stick earlier this season, when he made the decision to play his reserves at Old Trafford, in preparation for a winnable home game against Burnley. On this occasion it might be United who choose to rotate their squad in preparation for their Champions League clash with AC Milan.

United will be without the injured Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs and Michael Owen, while Jonny Evans is a doubt. Returning to the side will be Nani, after serving a 3 match suspension.

For Wolves, Andy Keogh is back in training, but is more likely to start on the bench. Michael Kightly and David Edwards are also doubtful.

The home side will almost certainly field a 4-5-1 formation to try to contain the visitors and in such situations, Wolves are a difficult side to break down. They have earned home draws against Liverpool and Villa this season, beaten Spurs and were no pushovers against Chelsea.

It’s hard not to fancy the away win though. United have gone 2 games without winning a league game on the road since beating Arsenal and by their high standards, are overdue a victory.

Wolves are 11.5, with the draw at 5.2 and Manchester United at 1.38. With the odds of a United win rather slim, you might want to back them to be winning half time/full time at 2.0, with the draw/United available at 4.8.

A 1-0 United win is available at 7.4, with 2-0 at 6.8, 2-1 at 9.8 and 3-0 at 9.8. If you fancy a comfortable United with by a margin of 2 goals or more, then you can back them at -1.5 in the Asian Handicap at 2.09.

Finally, with Antonio Valencia and Park Ji-Sung likely to play on the flanks, there should be a high amount of corners, with 13 or more at 2.38, 10-12 at 3.05 and 9 or less at 2.96.

Recommended Bets:

• Back a Man Utd clean sheet @ 1.92;
• Back Rooney to score first @ 4.0;
• Back Man Utd/Man Utd @ 2.0.

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