It’s the big one in English football nowadays as the league toppers go head to head in the third round of the FA Cup. City are coming after an impressive 3-0 win against Liverpool, while United are on the back of two straight defeats. Logically, Ferguson wouldn’t have to spend too much time motivating his players given that it’s quite rare for the history of this club to see them lose three in a row.
Manchester City have been the best team in the league so far, and after humiliating their city rivals by 1-6 in the last meeting, it’s difficult not to rate them as the big title favorites this year. Vincent Kompany has been outstanding in defense, Silva is the one creating the spark in midfield, while Kun Aguero has been the man taking most the team’s chances and rightfully so as he has netted 15 goals in his EPL debut season so early on.
But the real talk of this match should be the Reds. Here is how Roberton Mancini viewed going into this game: “It’s a difficult game, always difficult. Maybe more so in this moment because United are angry after two defeats. They are very strong after defeats. For this reason, I think it’s a very tough game.”
And that’s a fact. We simply can’t see Man United losing a third game in a row. Thus, our City v United prediction is for United to Draw or Win on Double Chance, which is offered at 1.66 by bet365. But knowing that City with all their quality players are bound to score at least once in that game, so the Goal/Goal option at the same odds (1.66) is the more reasonable choice, if you are betting a lot of money on smaller odds.
In terms of the available players, Mancini cannot count on the Toure brothers (AFCON involvement), Gareth Barry (suspension) and Mario Balotelli (injured), while Ferguson has more concerns as he will have to deal without Ashley Young, Nemanja Vidic, Darren Fletcher, Rio Ferdinand, Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling and Tom Cleverley.
Man City v Man United Prediction: Six of the last eight derbies between those two sides have gone Under 2.5 Goals. We predict this trend is about to turn around, as we should be seeing more goals when such quality sides meet. We expect to see at least three goals being scored here.
Betting Verdict: Over 2.5 Goals @ 1.80
