Everton vs Man Utd – Betting on Rooney to shine in the face of Goodison hostility

An 8/11 bet at Boylesports on Wayne Rooney as anytime scorer, is a fair price for a player in the form of his life. After a relatively successful night in the Champions League away at the San Siro, Manchester United turn their attention back to the immediate task at hand, trying to get their noses in front of Chelsea in the Premier League. United, after being completely overran in the early stages of their match against AC Milan, turned the screw in the second half, with another startling performance from two goal hero Wayne Rooney. All of the furore about David Beckham playing against his old team, sort of filtered out, with him looking a spare part in an unusual central midfield role. Star of the night, Rooney, has netted 21 league goals this season, and now he comes up against one of his old clubs, Everton.

As good as they are looking at the moment, with momentum apparently behind them to retain the Premier League title, Alex Ferguson’s men will have watched closely as Everton inflicted a defeat upon league leaders Chelsea just over a week ago. That was the same Everton which took the first points of the season from Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, earning a well deserved 2-2 draw there earlier in the season. Manchester United though, will draw some consolation from the fact that they thumped Everton 3-0 at Old Trafford back in November, but will also be aware that the Toffees have much improved since then. United sit just one point behind Chelsea, as they failed to capitalise on Chelsea’s defeat, as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa.

United will be without Rio Ferdinand at the back, who is still serving a ban, and Nani will also be in the stands, as he is suffering the same fate. Nemanja Vidic is fit again, after missing most of the season through injury, but despite that, he is still the centre of trade speculation that he wants out of Old Trafford, and that European giants AC Milan and Real Madrid are head hunting the Serbian international. Everton have themselves been struck with some selection problems, as Tim Cahill, the cornerstone of their midfield will be out of action for a few weeks. This is more trouble in midfield for boss David Moyes, as he will miss creative midfielder Marouane Fellaini for the rest of the season. These are two key players to have go missing, after an impressive run of form.

Injuries have been plaguing poor David Moyes for most of the season, and the likes of Phil Jagielka and Steven Pienaar have also been missing from the line-up for a long time. After being stripped to the bare bones of resources at the club, Moyes has persevered and worked with what he has got, to turn Everton around and get them back into the top half of the table. Even with all of their injury worries, they were still difficult to break down, and now they have gotten most of their first team back, the Toffees enjoyed a steady, but unspectacular climb towards the top. Sitting in 9th place and ten points out of fourth place, they are not going to be strong enough to claim a Champions League place, but a top six finish would be a particular rewarding success for Moyes in a turbulent season.

Their win over Chelsea recently showed what they can do, and success in the Europa League further strengthens their resilience to grind out results. They beat Sporting Lisbon 2-1 at home in the first leg of their Europa League tie, but conceding a late goal will have caused much frustration. Now one of the biggest challenges of the domestic calendar awaits them, as Manchester United roll into town. The loss of Cahill and Fellaini are major factors, but Moyes should be confident enough to push on through some more hard times, as well as giving Manchester United at better game than they did at Old Trafford.

BETTING STATS

Last 5 head to Head
Man Utd 3, Everton 0
Man Utd 1, Everton 0
Everton 1, Man Utd 1
Man Utd 2, Everton 1
Everton 0, Man Utd 1

Last 5 Match Goals
Everton: 7 For, 2 Against
Man Utd: 16 For, 2 Against

Last 10 Form
Everton: W5, D4, L1
Man Utd: W7, D2, L1

Win Percentage
Everton have a 46.2 win percentage at home
Man Utd have a 53.8 win percentage away from home

Match Prices
Everton to win: 4/1 at Coral
Draw: 13/5 at Bet365
Man Utd to win: 5/6 at 888sport

Asian Handicap Betting Advice: Still hard not to fancy Man Utd to win this. It could be a matter of by how many, especially with the form that Everton old boy Wayne Rooney is in. But Everton are a decent team, who can generally hold their own. It will be surprising if they roll over to another emphatic defeat like did earlier in the season against United, but they are stronger than since then, only losing once in 11 matches. For Everton to win it, it will most likely be by the odd goal, but a draw will be rewarding for them, and Chelsea fans.
Everton +0.75 Asian Handicap: 17/20 at Bet365